shell/bash script to install cpan modules automatically

Question

I want a shell script that will find the directory where perl is installed in local system, open that perl, and install all the CPAN modules automatically.

Answer 1

I think cpanminus is what you are looking for.

You can install modules like this:

cpanm Dancer Dancer::Plugin::Database (etc. etc.)

It will install these modules with all dependencies.

Answer 2

If you are installing a module and want all of it's dependencies, just tell the cpan command the module you want and it takes care of the rest.

% cpan Some::Module

The utilities that comes with perl already know where perl is because they adjust their shebang line to be the perl that installed them. They'll get all the settings from that perl when it starts.

If you want to use some other perl, run cpan with that perl. Now all the settings come from /my/other/perl.

% /my/other/perl `which cpan` Some::Module

Additionally, you can dump the cpan settings with -J, fiddle with them, and load them for a single run of cpan:

% cpan -J > settings.dump
...adjust settings...
% cpan -j settings.dump