ppm(1)

NAME

PPM - Perl Package Manager: locate, install, upgrade soft
ware packages.

SYNOPSIS

ppm genconfig
ppm help [command]
ppm install [--location=location] package1 [... packageN]
ppm query [--case|nocase] [--abstract|author] PATTERN
ppm remove package1 [... packageN]
ppm  search  [--case|nocase] [--location=location] [--abstract|author] PATTERN
ppm set [option]
ppm verify  [--location=location]  [--upgrade]  [--force]
[package1 ... packageN]
ppm version
ppm [--location=location]

DESCRIPTION

ppm is a utility intended to simplify the tasks of locat
ing, installing, upgrading and removing software packages.
It is a front-end to the functionality provided in PPM.pm.
It can determine if the most recent version of a software
package is installed on a system, and can install or
upgrade that package from a local or remote host.

ppm runs in one of two modes: an interactive shell from
which commands may be entered; and command-line mode, in
which one specific action is performed per invocation of
the program.

ppm uses files containing an extended form of the Open
Software Description (OSD) specification for information
about software packages. These description files, which
are written in Extensible Markup Language (XML) code, are
referred to as 'PPD' files. Information about OSD can be
found at the W3C web site (at the time of this writing,
http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-OSD.html). The extensions to
OSD used by ppm are documented in PPM.ppd.

Using PPM

Interactive mode

If ppm is invoked with no command specified, it is
started in interactive mode. If the '--location'
argument is specified, it is used as the search loca
tion, otherwise the repositories specified in the PPM
data file are used.

The syntax of PPM commands is the same in interactive
mode as it is in command-line mode. The 'help' com
mand lists the available commands.

ppm commands may be abbreviated to their shortest
unique form.

Installing

ppm install [--location=location] package1 [... pack

ageN]

Installs the specified software packages. Attempts to
install from the URL or directory 'location' if the
'--location' option is specfied.

The 'package' arguments may be either package names
('foo'), pathnames (p:/packages/foo.ppd) or URLs
(http://www.ActiveState.com/packages/foo.ppd) to spe
cific PPD files.

In the case where a package name is specified, and the
'--location' option is not used, ppm will refer to the
default repository locations.

See also: 'confirm' option.

Removing

ppm remove package1 [... packageN]

Reads information from the PPD file for the named
software package and removes the package from the sys
tem.

See also: 'confirm' option.

Verifying

ppm verify [--location=location] [--upgrade]

[--force] [package1 ... packageN]

Verifies that the currently installed packages are up
to date. If no packages are specified as arguments,
all installed packages will be verified.

If the '--upgrade' option is specified, any package
for which an upgrade is available will be upgraded.

If the '--location' option is specified, upgrades will
be looked for at the specified URL or directory.

If the '--force' option is specified, all currently
installed packages will be reinstalled regardless of
whether they are out of date or not.

See also: 'confirm' option.

Querying

ppm query [--case|nocase] [--abstract|author] PATTERN

Searches for 'PATTERN' (a regular expression) in the
name of any installed package. If a search is suc
cessful, information about the matching package(s) is
displayed. If 'PATTERN' is omitted, information about
all installed packages will be displayed.

If either '--abstract' or '--author' is specified,
PATTERN will be searched for in the <ABSTRACT> or
<AUTHOR> tags of the installed packages.

The '--case' and '--nocase' options can be used to
override the default case-sensitivity search settings.

See also: 'case' option.

Searching

ppm search [--case|nocase] [--location=location]

[--abstract|author] PATTERN

Displays a list of any packages matching 'PATTERN' (a
regular expression) available from the specified loca
tion. If 'PATTERN' is omitted, information about all
available packages will be displayed.

If the '--location' option is specified, the specified
URL or directory will be searched. If '--location' is
not specified, the repository location as specified in
the PPM data file will be searched.

If either '--abstract' or '--author' is specified,
PATTERN will be searched for in the <ABSTRACT> or
<AUTHOR> tags of the available packages.

The '--case' and '--nocase' options can be used to
override the default case-sensitivity search settings.

See also: 'case' option.

Error Recovery

ppm genconfig
ppm getconfig

The genconfig command will print a valid PPM config
file (ppm.xml) to STDOUT. This can be useful if the
PPM config file ever gets damaged leaving PPM unus
able.

If required, this command should be run from a shell
prompt:

C:Perle> ppm genconfig > ppm.xml

The getconfig command prints the location of the PPM
configuration file used at PPM startup.

Options

ppm set [option value]

Sets or displays current options. With no arguments,
current option settings are displayed.

Available options:

build DIRECTORY

- Changes the package build directory.

case [1|0]

- Sets case-sensitive searches. If one of '1'

or '0' is

not specified, the current setting is tog

gled.

clean [1|0]

- Sets removal of temporary files from pack

age's build

area, on successful installation of a pack

age. If one of
'1' or '0' is not specified, the current

setting is
toggled.

confirm [1|0]

- Sets confirmation of 'install', 'remove' and

'upgrade'.

If one of '1' or '0' is not specified, the

current
setting is toggled.

downloadstatus NUMBER

- If non-zero, updates the download status af

ter each NUMBER

of bytes transferred during an 'install'.

This can be
reassuring when installing a large package

(e.g. Tk) over
a low-speed connection.

force_install [1|0]

- Continue installing a package even if a de

pendency cannot

be installed.

more NUMBER

- Causes output to pause after NUMBER lines

have been

displayed. Specifying '0' turns off this

capability.

set repository --remove NAME

- Removes the repository 'NAME' from the list

of repositories.

set repository NAME LOCATION

- Adds a repository to the list of PPD reposi

tories for this

session. 'NAME' is the name by which this

repository will
be referred; 'LOCATION' is a URL or directo

ry name.

root DIRECTORY

- Changes the install root directory. Pack

ages will be

installed under this new root.

save

- Saves the current options as default options

for future

sessions.

trace

- Tracing level--default is 1, maximum is 4, 0

indicates

no tracing.

tracefile

- File to contain tracing information, default

is 'PPM.LOG'.

verbose [1|0]

- Display additional package information for

'query' and

'search' commands.

EXAMPLES

ppm Starts ppm in interactive mode, using the reposi

tory locations specified in the PPM data file. A
session might look like this:

[show all available packages]
PPM> search
Packages available from P:PACKAGES:
bar [2.91 ] supplies bar methods for perl5.
bax [0.072] module for manipulation of bax

archives.
baz [1.03 ] Interface to baz library
foo [2.23 ] Foo parser class

[list what has already been installed]
PPM> query
bax [0.071] module for manipulation of bax

archives.
baz [1.02 ] Interface to baz library

[install a package]
PPM> install foo
Install package foo? (y/N): y
[...]

[toggle confirmations]
PPM> set confirm
Commands will not be confirmed.

[see if 'baz' is up-to-date]
PPM> verify baz
An upgrade to package 'baz' is available.

[upgrade 'baz']
PPM> verify --upgrade baz
[...]

[forced upgrade of 'baz']
PPM> verify --upgrade --force baz
[...]

[toggle case-sensitive searches]
PPM> set case
Case-sensitive searches will be performed.

[display all available packages beginning with

'b']
PPM> search ^b
bar [2.91 ] supplies bar methods for perl5.
bax [0.072] module for manipulation of bax

archives.
baz [1.03 ] Interface to baz library

[search for installed packages containing

'baz' in the ABSTRACT tag]
PPM> query --abstract baz
Matching packages found at P:PACKAGES:
baz [1.03 ] Interface to baz library
PPM> quit

ppm install http://www.ActiveState.com/pack
ages/foo.ppd

Installs the software package 'foo' based on the
information in the PPD obtained from the specified
URL.

ppm verify --upgrade foo

Compares the currently installed version of the
software package 'foo' to the one available
according to the PPD obtained from the location
specified for this package in the PPM data file,
and upgrades to a newer version if available.

ppm verify --location=P:PACKAGES --upgrade foo

Compares the currently installed version of the
software package 'foo' to the one available
according to the PPD obtained from the specified
directory, and upgrades to a newer version if
available.

ppm verify --upgrade --force

Forces verification and reinstalls every installed
package on the system, using upgrade locations
specified in the PPM data file.

ppm search --location=http://ppm.ActiveState.com/PPM
packages/5.6

Displays the packages with PPD files available at
the specified location.

ppm search --location=P:PACKAGES --author ActiveState

Searches the specified location for any package
with an <AUTHOR> tag containing the string
'ActiveState'. On a successful search, the pack
age name and the matching string are displayed.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

HTTP_proxy

If the environment variable 'HTTP_proxy' is set, then
it will be used as the address of a proxy server for
accessing the Internet.

The value should be of the form: 'http://proxy:port'.

FILES

The following files are fully described in the 'Files'
section of PPM:ppm.

package.ppd

A description of a software package, in extended Open
Software Description (OSD) format. More information
on this file format can be found in PPM::ppd.

ppm.xml - PPM data file.

An XML format file containing information about the
local system, specifics regarding the locations from
which PPM obtains PPD files, and the installation
details for any package installed by ppm.

This file usually resides in '[perl]/site/lib'. If
the environment variable 'PPM_DAT' is set, its value
will be used as the full pathname to a PPM data file.
If all else fails, ppm will look for a data file in
the current directory.

AUTHOR

Murray Nesbitt, <murray@cpan.org>

CREDITS

· The "geek-pit" at ActiveState.

· Paul Kulchenko for his SOAP-Lite package, and for his

enthusiastic assistance in getting PPM to work with
SOAP-Lite.

perl v5.8.0 2002-07-06 PPM(1)