CPAN

Perl Module Manager

Interact with CPAN from the command line

               # without arguments, starts CPAN.pm shell
               cpan

               # with arguments and no switches, installs specified modules
               cpan module_name [ module_name … ]

               # with switches, installs modules with extra behavior
               cpan [-cfFimtTw] module_name [ module_name … ]

               # use local::lib
               cpan -I module_name [ module_name … ]

               # one time mirror override for faster mirrors
               cpan -p …

               # with just the dot, install from the distribution in the current directory
               cpan .

               # without arguments, but some switches
               cpan [-ahpruvACDLOPX]

Command interface to CPAN. Options

`-s`	Drop into the CPAN.pm shell.
`-i module [ module … ]`	Install the specified modules. With no other switches, this switch is implied.
`-l`	List all installed modules
`-C module [ module … ]`	Show the Changes
`-m module [ module … ]`	Make
`-r`	compiles dynamically loaded modules with `CPAN::Shell->recompile.`
`-t module [ module … ]`	`make test`
`-O`	Show out-of-date cpan -O >cpanoO 6/21/24 twitcher.us (GoDaddy) Argument "undef" isn't numeric in printf at /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/App/Cpan.pm line 1355. Argument "1.03_01" isn't numeric in printf at /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/App/Cpan.pm line 1355. Argument "undef" isn't numeric in printf at /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/App/Cpan.pm line 1355. 813 lines Module Name Local CPAN ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Algorithm::Diff 1.1903 1.2010 Alien::Base 2.8000 2.8300 Alien::Base::PkgConfig 2.8000 2.8300 … App::Cpan 1.6600 1.6780 App::Prove 3.4200 3.4800 … CPAN 2.1800 2.3600 CPAN::Admin 5.5000 5.5010 CPAN::Bundle 5.5003 5.5005 CPAN::Distribution 2.1800 2.3400 CPAN::FTP 5.5008 5.5016 CPAN::FirstTime 5.5310 5.5317 CPAN::HTTP::Client 1.9601 1.9602 CPAN::HandleConfig 5.5008 5.5012 CPAN::Index 2.1200 2.2900 CPAN::Meta::Requirements 2.1400 2.1430 CPAN::Mirrors 2.1200 2.2700 CPAN::Plugin 0.9600 0.9700 CPAN::Plugin::Specfile 0.0100 0.0200 CPAN::Queue 5.5002 5.5003 CPAN::Shell 5.5006 5.5009 CPAN::Tarzip 5.5012 5.5013 Carp 1.4200 1.5000 … Config::Perl::V 0.3000 0.3600 Cwd 3.7400 3.7500 DB_File 1.8420 1.8590 … Term::ANSIColor 4.0600 5.0100 Term::Cap 1.1700 1.1800 Term::ReadKey 2.3700 2.3800 Test2 1.3021 1.3022 …
`-D module [ module … ]`	Show module detailsfor out-of-date module (locally installed with newer versions ). module name, local version, and CPAN version. CPAN ------------------------------------------------------------------------- (no description) A/AN/ANDK/CPAN-2.36.tar.gz /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/CPAN.pm Installed: 2.18 CPAN: 2.36 Not up to date Andreas J. Koenig (ANDK) andreas.koenig.7os6vvqr@franz.ak.mind.de DBI ------------------------------------------------------------------------- (no description) T/TI/TIMB/DBI-1.643.tar.gz (no installation file) Installed: not installed CPAN: 1.643 Not up to date Tim Bunce (TIMB) Tim.Bunce@pobox.com DBD:MariaDB ------------------------------------------------------------------------- (no description) P/PA/PALI/DBD-MariaDB-1.23.tar.gz (no installation file) Installed: not installed CPAN: 1.23 Not up to date Pali (PALI) pali@cpan.org CGI ------------------------------------------------------------------------- (no description) L/LE/LEEJO/CGI-4.66.tar.gz (no installation file) Installed: not installed CPAN: 4.66 Not up to date Lee Johnson (LEEJO) lee@payprop.com
`-f`	Force the specified action, when it normally would have failed. Used to install a module even if its tests fail. `-i` is not optional for installing a module. % cpan -f -i Module::Foo
`-F`	Don't lock activites, allowing multiple activities tom run at the same time. Danger
`-g module [ module … ]`	Gets the latest distribution of the module to the current directory .
`-G module [ module … ]`	UNIMPLEMENTED Get the latest distribution of the modulesi to the current directory , unpack each distribution, and create a git repository for each distribution.
`-a`	Creates a CPAN.pm autobundle with CPAN::Shell->autobundle.
`-I`	Load `local::lib`
`-J`	Dump the configuration in the format that `CPAN.pm` uses. Useful for checking the configuration as well as using the dump as a starting point for a new, custom configuration.
`-j Config.pm`	Load configuration .
`-T`	Do not test modules.
`-u`	Upgrade all installed modules. Blindly doing this can really break things, so keep a backup.
`-p`	Ping mirrors and output a report
`-P`	Find the best mirrors and use them . CPAN: LWP::UserAgent loaded ok (v6.34) Fetching with LWP: http://www.cpan.org//MIRRORED.BY Searching for the best continent ... Testing Global www.cpan.org -> 1.90 ms -->median time: 1.90 ms Median result by continent: 2 ms Global Scanning Global ... Nothing to install!
`-M mirror1,mirror2,…`	list of mirrors to use for this run.
`-L author [ author … ]`	List the modules by the authors. Can't locate object method "userid" via package "A1z::HTML5::Template" (perhaps you forgot to load "A1z::HTML5::Template"?) at /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/App/Cpan.pm line 137
`-A module [ module … ]`	Show primary maintainers pan -A DBI … DBI TIMB Tim.Bunce@pobox.com Tim Bunce cpan -A DBD:mysql … DBD:mysql DVEEDEN pause@myname.nl Daniel van Eeden
`-h`	Display help and exit.
`-v`	Display the script and CPAN.pm versions then exit.
`-V`	Display details about the client.
`-n`	Do a dry run, but don't actually install anything. (unimplemented)
`-w`	UNIMPLEMENTED Turn on cpan warnings. This checks various things, like directory permissions, and tells you about problems you might have.
`-x module [ module … ]`	Find close matches to the named modules. requires installation of `Text::Levenshtein or Text::Levenshtein::Damerau`.
`-X`	Dump the namespaces

Examples

                # output a help message cpan -h

               # display the version numbers cpan -v

              # create an autobundle cpan -a

             # compile mll odules cpan -r 

               # install modules ( sole -i is optional ) cpan -i Netscape::Booksmarks Business::ISBN

               # force install modules ( must use -i ) cpan -fi CGI::Minimal URI

               # install modules but without testing them cpan -Ti CGI::Minimal URI

Environment variables
The build tools, ExtUtils::MakeMaker and Module::Build use some, while others matter to the levels above them.

Perl Toolchain Gang:
Lancaster Concensus Oslo Concensus
$NONINTERACTIVE_TESTING
no one is paying attention and skips prompts for distributions that do that correctly. cpan(1) sets this to 1 unless it already has a value
$PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT
Use the default answer for a prompted questions. cpan sets this to 1 unless it already has a value (even if that value is false).
$CPAN_OPTS
As with $PERL5OPTS, a string of additional cpan options to add to those on the command line.
$CPANSCRIPT_LOGLEVEL
The log level to use, with either the embedded, minimal logger or Log::Log4perl if it is installed.
Possible values are the same as the Log::Log4perl : TRACE, DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR, and FATAL. The default is INFO.
$GIT_COMMAND
The path to the "git" binary to use for the Git features. The default is /usr/local/bin/git
EXIT VALUES
0 cpan thinks that everything worked, or a positive number if it thinks that something failed.
, In some cases it has to divine a failure by the output of things it does not control.
1 An unknown error 2 external problem 4 internal problem with the script 8 A module failed to install