How can I install package in ActivePerl without Internet connection?

Question

In ActivePerl, "ppm" installs a package from the Internet, "ppm install x.ppd" installs from a ppd file, but most CPAN packages are distributed as .tar.gz

How do you supply modules to a machine running ActivePerl that doesn't have an Internet connection? ("make" will probably not be available.)

Update: an Internet connection can be used to download files and transfer them to the machine with a USB key, etc.

Answer 1

See: http://docs.activestate.com/activeperl/5.10/faq/ActivePerl-faq2.html#zip_files

Answer 2

I am sure there is an easier way, but I just checked a ppd file and it is just an xml file ...

So you should be able to do the following if you want to install manually on a pc with no connection:

Open the file , ex

http://trouchelle.com/ppm/Acme-LOLCAT.ppd

and download the appropriate file pointed to in the CODEBASE tag, in this case:

http://trouchelle.com/ppm/MSWin32-x86-multi-thread-5.8/Acme-LOLCAT-0.0.4.zip

Put both file on the pc with no connection, CODEBASE HREF="xxx" should be pointing to the zip file (either by putting the file in the same relative subfolder or by fixing the href so it points to the zip file on your disk)

Install from the ppd using

ppm install x.ppd

Answer 3

I know it's not an answer to your question, but if possible consider using Strawberry Perl, a CPAN-friendly distribution of Perl for Windows. It has a tidy installer, ships with make, a compiler and a properly configured CPAN shell all ready to go.

And then you can use something like minicpan to create an offline CPAN repository.

Don't be a second class Perl citizen and have to wait for someone else to compile you a ppm, drink straight from the CPAN firehose!

Answer 4

You might be interested in A guide to installing modules for Win32. It's a bit outdated (it talks about the command-line ppm) but the principles remain the same.