Each (linux) distro has their own way on package management that resolves all dependencies, but they all, as you mention, are limited in the repository, and can't catch up to the latest release at CPAN. I do admit that having such tool would be very nice for those who need it. I haven't used CPANPLUS::Shell::Tk myself, I'm happy with cpan.
In turn, I haven't used CPANPLUS which you mentioned yourself, but one distinguishing feature of it that I can remember of is the ability to create distro-specific packages on the fly, which would give one the best of both worlds: parallel distro and cpan package management! Support for some major distros is already there and for other ones it can be made available through suitable plugins: for some time I've been tempted to write code for mine (due to its simple nature it shouldn't be that difficult) but with some and occasionally several regrets on my own part from some time on I seem to have turned mostly in a Windows-kinda-guy, so if that is going to happen, it won't be anytime soon.
