Re: Is it possible to use modules without installing them?

[BrowserUk]

in reply to Is it possible to use modules without installing them?

In general, if the module concerned is a "pure perl" module, there is nothing (provided you take the copyrights etc with it) of including it into your script as source.

However, many modules have XS and/or C components and they obviously won't work without their compiled bits.

I'm not familiar with the internals of GD so don't know which is the case for it.

Being a graphics module, it's quite likely that at least some of it has been optomised to C for speed?

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Well It's better than the Abottoire, but Yorkshire!

[Nemp]

Thanks for the reply!

Unfortunately you've provided me with another question now, specifically for GD and for any other module generically, is there a way to find out if a module is "pure Perl"?

I guess I could just go and look through the source code but I'm still pretty much a novice at Perl so I might skip parts I don't understand and not recognize them as being XS or C components. Maybe there is a module on CPAN that analyzes a given file to determine if it's pure Perl or not?

Many thanks for any help and the help so far :)
Neil

[kudra]

You can tell if a module is pure Perl or not by examining the dslip information.

One module which does this is CPANPLUS (it also does a whole lot more, including module installation without root access, which I recommend over including the module source in your program*). The default shell includes the 'l' command which will give information, including the language used.

CPAN.pm might also give dslip info, but I don't know it well enough to say if it does or not.

GD is C and Perl and a C compiler is needed. If your ISP allows you to use a compiler, you should still be able to install it without being root.

[1] For instructions on how to do this with CPANPLUS, refer to the FAQ (available on the website).