Question about CPAN and perl modules
 

Hi,
I need to install specific (and old) version of some CPAN perl modules.
I can retrieve "sources" from /root/.cpan/build directory of another system.
Can I safely install those modules as usual (perl Makefile.pl, make, make install) from those directory?
What's the difference between doing this and installing modules using the cpan shell?
Thankyou

If they are OK, yes.
Most old modules can also be found as "Debian source.tar.gz", or SRC.RPMS.


# cpan
cpan > install Module : Will also take care of dependencies.
But will install the latest versions of the 'Module' and the missing dependencies.

Manual install ( perl Makefile.pl && make && make test ) :
1) The dependencies must be installed beforehand.
2) The 'make test' can be omitted, which you can't do with cpan.
..... ( Some few modules cannot pass all tests.)
But : The manual result is exactly the same as cpan,
if it's about the same module version.
( Some modules have a Makefile* that will put some files in /usr/local/.)

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