CPAN(1)                        User Contributed Perl Documentation                        CPAN(1)



NAME
       cpan - easily interact with CPAN from the command line

SYNOPSIS
               # with arguments and no switches, installs specified modules
               cpan module_name [ module_name ... ]

               # with switches, installs modules with extra behavior
               cpan [-cfimt] module_name [ module_name ... ]

               # without arguments, starts CPAN.pm shell
               cpan

               # without arguments, but some switches
               cpan [-ahrvACDLO]

DESCRIPTION
       This script provides a command interface (not a shell) to CPAN. At the moment it uses
       CPAN.pm to do the work, but it is not a one-shot command runner for CPAN.pm.

       Meta Options

       These options are mutually exclusive, and the script processes them in this order:
       [hvCAar].  Once the script finds one, it ignores the others, and then exits after it fin-
       ishes the task.  The script ignores any other command line options.

       -a  Creates the CPAN.pm autobundle with CPAN::Shell->autobundle.

       -A module [ module ... ]
           Shows the primary maintainers for the specified modules

       -C module [ module ... ]
           Show the "Changes" files for the specified modules

       -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 This prints one line for each out-of-date module (meaning,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 CPAN).  Each line has three
           columns: module name, local version, and CPAN version.

       -L author [ author ... ]
           List the modules by the specified authors.

       -h  Prints a help message.

       -O  Show the out-of-date modules.

       -r  Recompiles dynamically loaded modules with CPAN::Shell->recompile.

       -v  Print the script version and CPAN.pm version.

       Module options

       These options are mutually exclusive, and the script processes them in alphabetical order.
       It only processes the first one it finds.

       c   Runs a 'make clean' in the specified module's directories.

       f   Forces the specified action, when it normally would have failed.

       i   Installed the specified modules.

       m   Makes the specified modules.

       t   Runs a 'make test' on the specified modules.

       Examples

               # print a help message
               cpan -h

               # print the version numbers
               cpan -v

               # create an autobundle
               cpan -a

               # recompile modules
               cpan -r

               # install modules ( sole -i is optional )
               cpan -i Netscape::Booksmarks Business::ISBN

               # force install modules ( must use -i )
               cpan -fi CGI::Minimal URI

TO DO
BUGS
       * none noted

SEE ALSO
       Most behaviour, including environment variables and configuration, comes directly from
       CPAN.pm.

SOURCE AVAILABILITY
       This source is part of a SourceForge project which always has the latest sources in CVS,
       as well as all of the previous releases.

               http://sourceforge.net/projects/brian-d-foy/

       If, for some reason, I disappear from the world, one of the other members of the project
       can shepherd this module appropriately.

CREDITS
       Japheth Cleaver added the bits to allow a forced install (-f).

       Jim Brandt suggest and provided the initial implementation for the up-to-date and Changes
       features.

       Adam Kennedy pointed out that exit() causes problems on Windows where this script ends up
       with a .bat extension

AUTHOR
       brian d foy, "<>"

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (c) 2001-2006, brian d foy, All Rights Reserved.

       You may redistribute this under the same terms as Perl itself.



perl v5.8.8                                 2008-04-11                                    CPAN(1)