Hi all. I'm a relative newbie to Unix, and Perl for that matter, so I apologize if the answers to these questions -- which I realize are pretty fundamental ones -- are of the "RTFM" type. I can say, though, that I've read through the archives on this list, lurked on the list for several months, and searched across the web, and haven't found the answers. So at least I tried.
As the subject line indicates, all of my questions relate to CPAN. 1. I think I've got the configuration pretty well set up. Using the default installation of perl and CPAN, and recognizing that the case-insensitivity of HFS+ can cause problems, am I in any immediate danger of screwing up my system beyond repair if I update CPAN and install Bundle:libnet? (I'm familiar with the libwww "head/HEAD" issues.) Is there an easy way I can tell CPAN to install everything in a separate directory so it doesn't tromp on anything (including if I decide to install libwww in the future)? 1a. Do I have to run CPAN as root? (I'm a bit paranoid of overwriting critical system files). 2. Each time I've tried to install a module using CPAN, CPAN appears to download the source to Perl 5.6.1. I've read enough of the trials and travails people have had installing 5.6.1 that I don't want to join the fun. So each time I've killed CPAN. CPAN's not going to try to install Perl 5.6.1 automatically, is it? That's it for now. TIA for your help; if there's some kind of resource with answers to these questions that I've overlooked, I'll be happy to head in that direction, tail between my legs . . . . :-) - geoff green
