[pacman-dev] pacman and perl

[Charles Mauch]

I just joined this list to ask a few questions about perl modules in arch,
and to explain (whine) about some of the workarounds I've tried to keep my
own modules up to date with the CPAN archives.

First, I'd like to say that for the most part, the perl modules provided by
the arch devs for the most part work fine.  But there always seems to one
or two that are out of date.  This isn't a problem unique to arch, I run a
couple of debian boxes and run across the same situation all the time.
There are simply so *many* possbile modules it can be an impossible
situation to keep current.

Because I can't live without the latest and greatest, over time I've come
up with a few workarounds that I'd love to eliminate.

First, I use pacman.conf to block the installation of a few modules, and
keep my own copies maintained.  Some packages simply INSIST on being
managed by pacman, so in that case - I usually let arch have it's way an
download and install what packages I want newer versions of into a ~/perl
directory.  By setting the PERL5LIB variable, I can ensure my local copy
gets used instead.

Unfortuatly, my ~/perl directory is growing at a rapid clip in arch.

So here are some suggestions I think would make perl hacking in arch
easier.

1.  Dump whatever perl-module naming scheme (if there is one) for arch perl
modules and simply use the CPAN module name.  I don't know how many times
I'll lookfor Foo::Bar, only to discover pacman's named it perl-bar-foo or
some other nonesense.  Is there a current naming scheme for modules?

2.  I dont know how reasonable this is, but I would *love* to manage all my
packages with the cpan tool.  Maybe pacman could act as a wrapper to the
cpan command?  Or as an alterative, maybe provide an option to install cpan
modules instead of packages into some other directory.  Yes, I know the
implications of something like this on PKGBUILD's might be horrendous. :)

2a.  Yes, cpan is horrible at times.  An alternative might be cpanplus.

3.  Another idea would be to create a small tool which creates pacman style
tarball bundles out of *all* the cpan modules once every few weeks, and
stores them on a repo somewhere.  Something like
http://rpmpan.sourceforge.net/ for arch.  This would eliminate the need for
cpan at all.  When i dicovered http://perl.arix.com/cpan2rpm/ I just about
sh*t myself the idea was so cool too :)

I do not have a webhost that could host or build this kind of repo, but I'd
be happy to help maintain/run such a system.

Anyway, some ideas.  Thoughts?  Am I just spinning my wheels?

-- 
Take it easy, Charles

FSF Apologist, WikiNut, Concrete Analyst, etc.

:: Playing "Hang Tough" by Fluke (Puppy)