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.\" ========================================================================
.\"
.IX Title "App::Cpan 3"
.TH App::Cpan 3 "2025-03-03" "perl v5.32.1" "User Contributed Perl Documentation"
.\" For nroff, turn off justification.  Always turn off hyphenation; it makes
.\" way too many mistakes in technical documents.
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.nh
.SH "NAME"
App::Cpan \- easily interact with CPAN from the command line
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
.Vb 2
\&        # 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]
.Ve
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
This script provides a command interface (not a shell) to \s-1CPAN.\s0 At the
moment it uses \s-1CPAN\s0.pm to do the work, but it is not a one-shot command
runner for \s-1CPAN\s0.pm.
.SS "Options"
.IX Subsection "Options"
.IP "\-a" 4
.IX Item "-a"
Creates a \s-1CPAN\s0.pm autobundle with CPAN::Shell\->autobundle.
.IP "\-A module [ module ... ]" 4
.IX Item "-A module [ module ... ]"
Shows the primary maintainers for the specified modules.
.IP "\-c module" 4
.IX Item "-c module"
Runs a `make clean` in the specified module's directories.
.IP "\-C module [ module ... ]" 4
.IX Item "-C module [ module ... ]"
Show the \fIChanges\fR files for the specified modules
.IP "\-D module [ module ... ]" 4
.IX Item "-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 This prints one line for each out-of-date module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 \s-1CPAN\s0).
Each line has three columns: module name, local version, and \s-1CPAN\s0
version.
.IP "\-f" 4
.IX Item "-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:
.Sp
.Vb 1
\&        % cpan \-f \-i Module::Foo
.Ve
.IP "\-F" 4
.IX Item "-F"
Turn off \s-1CPAN\s0.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 \f(CW\*(C`\-j\*(C'\fR, and that config sets up its own work directories.
.IP "\-g module [ module ... ]" 4
.IX Item "-g module [ module ... ]"
Downloads to the current directory the latest distribution of the module.
.IP "\-G module [ module ... ]" 4
.IX Item "-G module [ module ... ]"
\&\s-1UNIMPLEMENTED\s0
.Sp
Download to the current directory the latest distribution of the
modules, unpack each distribution, and create a git repository for each
distribution.
.Sp
If you want this feature, check out Yanick Champoux's \f(CW\*(C`Git::CPAN::Patch\*(C'\fR
distribution.
.IP "\-h" 4
.IX Item "-h"
Print a help message and exit. When you specify \f(CW\*(C`\-h\*(C'\fR, it ignores all
of the other options and arguments.
.IP "\-i module [ module ... ]" 4
.IX Item "-i module [ module ... ]"
Install the specified modules. With no other switches, this switch
is implied.
.IP "\-I" 4
.IX Item "-I"
Load \f(CW\*(C`local::lib\*(C'\fR (think like \f(CW\*(C`\-I\*(C'\fR for loading lib paths). Too bad
\&\f(CW\*(C`\-l\*(C'\fR was already taken.
.IP "\-j Config.pm" 4
.IX Item "-j Config.pm"
Load the file that has the \s-1CPAN\s0 configuration data. This should have the
same format as the standard \fICPAN/Config.pm\fR file, which defines
\&\f(CW$CPAN::Config\fR as an anonymous hash.
.Sp
If the file does not exist, \f(CW\*(C`cpan\*(C'\fR dies.
.IP "\-J" 4
.IX Item "-J"
Dump the configuration in the same format that \s-1CPAN\s0.pm uses. This is useful
for checking the configuration as well as using the dump as a starting point
for a new, custom configuration.
.IP "\-l" 4
.IX Item "-l"
List all installed modules with their versions
.IP "\-L author [ author ... ]" 4
.IX Item "-L author [ author ... ]"
List the modules by the specified authors.
.IP "\-m" 4
.IX Item "-m"
Make the specified modules.
.IP "\-M mirror1,mirror2,..." 4
.IX Item "-M mirror1,mirror2,..."
A comma-separated list of mirrors to use for just this run. The \f(CW\*(C`\-P\*(C'\fR
option can find them for you automatically.
.IP "\-n" 4
.IX Item "-n"
Do a dry run, but don't actually install anything. (unimplemented)
.IP "\-O" 4
.IX Item "-O"
Show the out-of-date modules.
.IP "\-p" 4
.IX Item "-p"
Ping the configured mirrors and print a report
.IP "\-P" 4
.IX Item "-P"
Find the best mirrors you could be using and use them for the current
session.
.IP "\-r" 4
.IX Item "-r"
Recompiles dynamically loaded modules with CPAN::Shell\->recompile.
.IP "\-s" 4
.IX Item "-s"
Drop in the \s-1CPAN\s0.pm shell. This command does this automatically if you don't
specify any arguments.
.IP "\-t module [ module ... ]" 4
.IX Item "-t module [ module ... ]"
Run a `make test` on the specified modules.
.IP "\-T" 4
.IX Item "-T"
Do not test modules. Simply install them.
.IP "\-u" 4
.IX Item "-u"
Upgrade all installed modules. Blindly doing this can really break things,
so keep a backup.
.IP "\-v" 4
.IX Item "-v"
Print the script version and \s-1CPAN\s0.pm version then exit.
.IP "\-V" 4
.IX Item "-V"
Print detailed information about the cpan client.
.IP "\-w" 4
.IX Item "-w"
\&\s-1UNIMPLEMENTED\s0
.Sp
Turn on cpan warnings. This checks various things, like directory permissions,
and tells you about problems you might have.
.IP "\-x module [ module ... ]" 4
.IX Item "-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.
.IP "\-X" 4
.IX Item "-X"
Dump all the namespaces to standard output.
.SS "Examples"
.IX Subsection "Examples"
.Vb 2
\&        # 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
.Ve
.SS "Environment variables"
.IX Subsection "Environment variables"
There are several components in \s-1CPAN\s0.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:
.PP
Lancaster Concensus: <https://github.com/Perl\-Toolchain\-Gang/toolchain\-site/blob/master/lancaster\-consensus.md>
.PP
Oslo Concensus: <https://github.com/Perl\-Toolchain\-Gang/toolchain\-site/blob/master/oslo\-consensus.md>
.IP "\s-1NONINTERACTIVE_TESTING\s0" 4
.IX Item "NONINTERACTIVE_TESTING"
Assume no one is paying attention and skips prompts for distributions
that do that correctly. \f(CWcpan(1)\fR sets this to \f(CW1\fR unless it already
has a value (even if that value is false).
.IP "\s-1PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT\s0" 4
.IX Item "PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT"
Use the default answer for a prompted questions. \f(CWcpan(1)\fR sets this
to \f(CW1\fR unless it already has a value (even if that value is false).
.IP "\s-1CPAN_OPTS\s0" 4
.IX Item "CPAN_OPTS"
As with \f(CW\*(C`PERL5OPT\*(C'\fR, a string of additional \f(CWcpan(1)\fR options to
add to those you specify on the command line.
.IP "\s-1CPANSCRIPT_LOGLEVEL\s0" 4
.IX Item "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 \f(CW\*(C`Log::Log4perl\*(C'\fR levels: \f(CW\*(C`TRACE\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`DEBUG\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`INFO\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`WARN\*(C'\fR,
\&\f(CW\*(C`ERROR\*(C'\fR, and \f(CW\*(C`FATAL\*(C'\fR. The default is \f(CW\*(C`INFO\*(C'\fR.
.IP "\s-1GIT_COMMAND\s0" 4
.IX Item "GIT_COMMAND"
The path to the \f(CW\*(C`git\*(C'\fR binary to use for the Git features. The default
is \f(CW\*(C`/usr/local/bin/git\*(C'\fR.
.SS "Methods"
.IX Subsection "Methods"
.IP "\fBrun()\fR" 4
.IX Item "run()"
Just do it.
.Sp
The \f(CW\*(C`run\*(C'\fR method returns 0 on success and a positive number on
failure. See the section on \s-1EXIT CODES\s0 for details on the values.
.Sp
\&\s-1CPAN\s0.pm sends all the good stuff either to \s-1STDOUT,\s0 or to a temp
file if \f(CW$CPAN::Be_Silent\fR is set. I have to intercept that output
so I can find out what happened.
.Sp
Stolen from File::Path::Expand
.SH "EXIT VALUES"
.IX Header "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:
.PP
.Vb 1
\&        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
.Ve
.SH "TO DO"
.IX Header "TO DO"
* There is initial support for Log4perl if it is available, but I
haven't gone through everything to make the NullLogger work out
correctly if Log4perl is not installed.
.PP
* When I capture \s-1CPAN\s0.pm output, I need to check for errors and
report them to the user.
.PP
* Warnings switch
.PP
* Check then exit
.SH "BUGS"
.IX Header "BUGS"
* none noted
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.IX Header "SEE ALSO"
\&\s-1CPAN\s0, App::cpanminus
.SH "SOURCE AVAILABILITY"
.IX Header "SOURCE AVAILABILITY"
This code is in Github in the \s-1CPAN\s0.pm repository:
.PP
.Vb 1
\&        https://github.com/andk/cpanpm
.Ve
.PP
The source used to be tracked separately in another GitHub repo,
but the canonical source is now in the above repo.
.SH "CREDITS"
.IX Header "CREDITS"
Japheth Cleaver added the bits to allow a forced install (\f(CW\*(C`\-f\*(C'\fR).
.PP
Jim Brandt suggest and provided the initial implementation for the
up-to-date and Changes features.
.PP
Adam Kennedy pointed out that \f(CW\*(C`exit()\*(C'\fR causes problems on Windows
where this script ends up with a .bat extension
.PP
David Golden helps integrate this into the \f(CW\*(C`CPAN.pm\*(C'\fR repos.
.PP
Jim Keenan fixed up various issues with _download
.SH "AUTHOR"
.IX Header "AUTHOR"
brian d foy, \f(CW\*(C`<bdfoy@cpan.org>\*(C'\fR
.SH "COPYRIGHT"
.IX Header "COPYRIGHT"
Copyright (c) 2001\-2018, brian d foy, All Rights Reserved.
.PP
You may redistribute this under the same terms as Perl itself.
