Re: PPM and core modules

[KeighleHawk]

PPM is a CPAN like sorta replacement created by ActiveState. It's original intent (I assume) was to address the needs of Win32 users who commonly did not have a C/C++ compiler installed and therefore could not easily (or at all) install Perl modules that contained C/C++ modules that needed compiled. ActiveState would provide a pre-compiled copy of the needed files and PPM could slap them in place.

As far as I know, there is no way to know what modules are installed or how they are installed expect by possibly inspecting any artifacts that may be left over from the installation process.

I too have stomped on a good installation with a bad via PPM. It was simple enough to correct (re-install the original) so I did not explore it further. I don't recall at the moment if I ever did the same with cpan.

As for what to do about it? Not much. At this time, the "standard" distribution for Perl modules is CPAN. PPM is going to mostly be of interest to Win32 users/developers. However, ActiveState has since expanded it's efforts to include Linux, Solaris and HP/UX.

One might see the possibility of a convergance of PPM and CPAN but I would not expect that anytime soon since there is still a basic philosophy difference that distinguishes thier audiences (ie. compile your own, or download binaries only).

Some would argue that PPM has no use for pure Perl modules becuase you don't need to compile anything. However, PPM does offer (again mostly Win32 users) a complete package for accessing remote module repositories and installing from them. CPAN on Win32 can be a bit of a bugger to get working since, like many Open Source initiatives, it relies on other software to be installed to work (ftp, gcc, make, various unix utils, etc.) Most of these are already present on a standard UNIX installation but **not** a Win32 installation. Unfortunatly, ActvieState does not seem to be very automated, nor very religious about insuring thier repository is either complete or current which is somewhat disappointing.

As for setting up a Cygwin environment all I can say is, Cygwin "grates" on some, especially Win32 users and people tend to love or hate it.

I would guess, but don't feel like looking, that Active State uses PPM for it's other scripting language ports as well.

So generally speaking I would say, PPM will exist to encourage/support usage by developers who do not want or need to otherwise setup a complete "Open Source/UNIX" developement environment but would rather download, install and maintain a binary only development environment for a single development language (eg. Perl). CPAN will continue to be the "source of record" and the source for it's main audience, Open Source UNIX developers who generally speaking already have the required tools in place to automatically roll thier own with each installation.

Perhaps in the future, ActiveState will do a better job of keeping thier repository more in sync with CPAN and so make the issue less of a concern...