cpan problems when /tmp and /var are existing symbolic links

[PhilipS]

I am trying to install modules from cpan on a machine where /tmp is an existing symbolic link. So Archive::Zip fails with "Could not extract xxx safely: /tmp is an existing symbolic link."

(I get the same issue with /var if I try to make/test/install manually. And I don't have permissions to change the symbolic links on that machine.)

Is there a workaround? I don't see any easy way to tell cpan to use a different directory as a temporary directory.

Thanks,
Philip

[davido]

I believe the tests for Archive::Zip utilize File::Temp, which discovers the tempdir using File::Spec. File::Spec suggests you can hint an alternate tempdir by setting the TMPDIR environment variable. Proof of concept:

1. In your homedir create a directory named ~/tmp
2. Execute TMPDIR=~/tmp perl -MFile::Spec::Functions=tmpdir -E 'say tmpdir()'

You will see your alternate tempdir returned. This is what Archive::Zip should actually use.

So you could possibly do this:

TMPDIR=~/tmp cpanm Archive::Zip

And if that doesn't work, built it yourself by downloading the archive from CPAN, extracting it to a directory, then:

perl Makefile.PL
make
TMPDIR=~/tmp make test
make install

...or just cpanm -f, but those tests for linkdir do exist for a reason. ;)

[Corion]

CPAN uses Archive::Zip which uses File::Temp. There, $ENV{TMPDIR} is suggested to set up a writable temp directory. Maybe this works on your system.

[afoken]

Can you show the output of o conf entered into the cpan prompt? I don't think cpan should even try to extract files to /tmp, unless it was configured to do so.

Alexander

[davido]

I watched /tmp on my computer while doing the make, make test dance and saw that it's the tests that tinker around inside /tmp. Skimming through the scripts in t/ confirmed this.