CPAN

NAME
 cpan - easily interact with CPAN from the command line
SYNOPSIS
 # 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, starts CPAN.pm shell
 cpan
 # without arguments, but some switches
 cpan [-ahpruvACDLOPX]
DESCRIPTION
 This script provides a command interface (not a shell) to CPAN. At the
 moment it uses CPAN.pm to do the work, but it is not a one-shot command
 runner for CPAN.pm.
 Options
 -a Creates a CPAN.pm autobundle with CPAN::Shell->autobundle.
 -A module [ module ... ]
 Shows the primary maintainers for the specified modules.
 -c module
 Runs a `make clean` in the specified module's directories.
 -C module [ module ... ]
 Show the Changes files for the specified modules
 -D module [ module ... ]
 Show the module details. This prints one line for each out-of-date
 module (meaning, modules locally installed but have newer versions
 on CPAN). Each line has three columns: module name, local version,
 and CPAN version.
 -f Force the specified action, when it normally would have failed. Use
 this to install a module even if its tests fail. When you use this
 option, -i is not optional for installing a module when you need to
 force it:
 % cpan -f -i Module::Foo
 -F Turn off CPAN.pm's attempts to lock anything. You should be careful
 with this since you might end up with multiple scripts trying to
 muck in the same directory. This isn't so much of a concern if
 you're loading a special config with "-j", and that config sets up
 its own work directories.
 -g module [ module ... ]
 Downloads to the current directory the latest distribution of the
 module.
 -G module [ module ... ]
 UNIMPLEMENTED
 Download to the current directory the latest distribution of the
 modules, unpack each distribution, and create a git repository for
 each distribution.
 If you want this feature, check out Yanick Champoux's
 "Git::CPAN::Patch" distribution.
 -h Print a help message and exit. When you specify "-h", it ignores all
 of the other options and arguments.
 -i module [ module ... ]
 Install the specified modules. With no other switches, this switch
 is implied.
 -I Load "local::lib" (think like "-I" for loading lib paths). Too bad
 "-l" was already taken.
 -j Config.pm
 Load the file that has the CPAN configuration data. This should have
 the same format as the standard CPAN/Config.pm file, which defines
 $CPAN::Config as an anonymous hash.
 -J Dump the configuration in the same format that CPAN.pm uses. This is
 useful for checking the configuration as well as using the dump as a
 starting point for a new, custom configuration.
 -l List all installed modules with their versions
 -L author [ author ... ]
 List the modules by the specified authors.
 -m Make the specified modules.
 -M mirror1,mirror2,...
 A comma-separated list of mirrors to use for just this run. The "-P"
 option can find them for you automatically.
 -n Do a dry run, but don't actually install anything. (unimplemented)
 -O Show the out-of-date modules.
 -p Ping the configured mirrors and print a report
 -P Find the best mirrors you could be using and use them for the
 current session.
 -r Recompiles dynamically loaded modules with CPAN::Shell->recompile.
 -s Drop in the CPAN.pm shell. This command does this automatically if
 you don't specify any arguments.
 -t module [ module ... ]
 Run a `make test` on the specified modules.
 -T Do not test modules. Simply install them.
 -u Upgrade all installed modules. Blindly doing this can really break
 things, so keep a backup.
 -v Print the script version and CPAN.pm version then exit.
 -V Print detailed information about the cpan client.
 -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 that you think you might
 have mistyped. This requires the optional installation of
 Text::Levenshtein or Text::Levenshtein::Damerau.
 -X Dump all the namespaces to standard output.
 Examples
 # print a help message
 cpan -h
 # print the version numbers
 cpan -v
 # create an autobundle
 cpan -a
 # recompile modules
 cpan -r
 # upgrade all installed modules
 cpan -u
 # 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
 There are several components in CPAN.pm that use environment variables.
 The build tools, ExtUtils::MakeMaker and Module::Build use some, while
 others matter to the levels above them. Some of these are specified by
 the Perl Toolchain Gang:
 Lancaster Consensus:
 <https://github.com/Perl-Toolchain-Gang/toolchain-site/blob/master/lanca
 ster-consensus.md>
 Oslo Consensus:
 <https://github.com/Perl-Toolchain-Gang/toolchain-site/blob/master/oslo-
 consensus.md>
 NONINTERACTIVE_TESTING
 Assume 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 (even if that value is false).
 PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT
 Use the default answer for a prompted questions. cpan(1) sets this
 to 1 unless it already has a value (even if that value is false).
 CPAN_OPTS
 As with "PERL5OPT", a string of additional cpan(1) options to add to
 those you specify 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" levels: "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
 The script exits with zero if it thinks that everything worked, or a
 positive number if it thinks that something failed. Note, however, that
 in some cases it has to divine a failure by the output of things it does
 not control. For now, the exit codes are vague:
 1 An unknown error
 2 The was an external problem
 4 There was an internal problem with the script
 8 A module failed to install
TO DO
 * one shot configuration values from the command line
BUGS
 * none noted
SEE ALSO
 Most behaviour, including environment variables and configuration, comes
 directly from CPAN.pm.
SOURCE AVAILABILITY
 This code is in Github in the CPAN.pm repository:
 https://github.com/andk/cpanpm
 The source used to be tracked separately in another GitHub repo, but the
 canonical source is now in the above repo.
CREDITS
 Japheth Cleaver added the bits to allow a forced install (-f).
 Jim Brandt suggest and provided the initial implementation for the
 up-to-date and Changes features.
 Adam Kennedy pointed out that exit() causes problems on Windows where
 this script ends up with a .bat extension
AUTHOR
 brian d foy, "<bdfoy@cpan.org>"
COPYRIGHT
 Copyright (c) 2001-2015, brian d foy, All Rights Reserved.
 You may redistribute this under the same terms as Perl itself.