Practical Issues for Using Modules: Downloading and Installation
At this point, you've seen a few of the techniques for Perl programming using modules, references, and objects. Now how do you actually start using them? This process can be a simple
matter of typing
Perl makefile.PL
and then
make
from the shell prompt, if you're running your Web server on a UNIX machine.
Installing modules can also be a rather difficult process, depending on which module you want to use and whether you're running on a supported architecture for module installation, and the desired module. If you're running on UNIX, then you need write permission to the library directory(s), corresponding to @INC, as well. For some installations, you also must have the requisite tools, such as a C compiler, make, and a linker which creates shared libraries, as mentioned previously.
Although some of the more important WWW modules are written to be architecture independent, you usually must take some configuration steps to use a typical module on any platform but UNIX. Again, the cross-platform issues are under constant consideration among the folks who bring you Perl.