On Sat, Aug 25, 2001 at 08:10:49AM -0400, Kevin der Kinderen wrote:
> I hope my question is relevant to the list.
>
> I run Redhat 7.1.
>
> I'd like to download the latest source for Perl and install it without
> interferring with the version that's installed with Redhat. The
> installed version can't be uninstalled (by me) because there's so many
> dependencies on it.
Ooh. 5.6.0 on RH7.1 - upgrading is a good idea.
> The reason I'd like to do this is to keep up to date with the latest
> versions of Perl and various modules while learning the language (plus
> I'm a bit neurotic about having the "latest" of everything).
You probably don't want the very latest version of Perl, unless you want
to help with the development of it. The latest stable version is often
a good idea though. Currently, that's 5.6.1 which has lots of bug fixes
over 5.6.0.
5.7.2 is the latest development release, or you can use rsync to get
up-to-the-minute updates (well, every five minutes I think).
> So, can I create a separate install of Perl and it's modules - maybe
> somewhere in my home directory and be sure that the scripts I'm working
> on - or the modules I load - affect only that version?
Yes. Your new Perl installation can be totally self contained.
> I've been told that I can update the installed version by getting the
> source RPM and replacing components of it with the latest Perl source -
> but that seems to lack the flexibility to "blow it away" and start all
> over (my typical method for learning something new).
I'd skip the RPM stuff myself. Compiling your own should be almost
trivial.
- Select which version of Perl you want. I suggest 5.6.1.
- Download the source from CPAN. http://www.cpan.org/src/index.html
- Unpack it somewhere.
- Select where you want your new Perl to live.
- Type:
sh ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/path/to/your/new/perl
make
make test
make install
- Use your new perl as /path/to/your/new/perl/bin/perl
- Add /path/to/your/new/perl/bin to the front of your path if you want to
pick it up by default.
- You could even replace /usr/bin/perl with a symlink to your new perl if
you're feeling adventurous.
Read the instructions for more details.
> This is a personal system so the only one affected by my mistakes is me.
That's handy ....
--
Paul Johnson - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.pjcj.net
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