ActiveState Perl configuration - encountering an error

[frank]

My apologies if this isn't the best place to post this question, but
its the best I could find.

I'm trying to install Radiator's Radius server on a Windows XP machine.
As part of the installation process, ActiveState's ActivePerl must be
installed first. I've run the MSI and successfully installed the
software.

I am now following the instructions that I have and trying to install
the packages that the setup requires through the PPM (Perl Package
Manager), specifically "install DBI".

However, attempting to do so generates the following error:

"Error: No valid repositories: Error 500: Can't connect to
ppm.ActiveState.com:80 (connect: Unknown error) Error: 500 Can't
connect to ppm.ActiveState.com:80 (connect: Unknown error)"

I'm guessing that this is a result of a setting within my environment
(either the machine or, more likely, my network), but I don't
understand enough about what the "install" command is doing (i.e., is
it trying to ftp a file from the ActiveState website or is it doing
something else) to effectively troubleshoot the problem and put
together a solution.

I started by asking ActiveState's support group but I have not seen a
response from them yet and I'm hoping that someone here might be able
to shed some light on what's going on.

Thanks,

Frank

 

[Matt Garrish]

My apologies if this isn't the best place to post this question, but
its the best I could find.

I'm trying to install Radiator's Radius server on a Windows XP machine.
As part of the installation process, ActiveState's ActivePerl must be
installed first. I've run the MSI and successfully installed the
software.

I am now following the instructions that I have and trying to install
the packages that the setup requires through the PPM (Perl Package
Manager), specifically "install DBI".

However, attempting to do so generates the following error:

"Error: No valid repositories: Error 500: Can't connect to
ppm.ActiveState.com:80 (connect: Unknown error) Error: 500 Can't
connect to ppm.ActiveState.com:80 (connect: Unknown error)"

The most likely causes are a firewall, no internet connectivity on the
machine, or that their repositories were offline for whatever reason
when you were trying to connect.

PPM will first search the repository for a matching ppd file, and if
one is found it will use the instructions in the file to download and
install the module for you. If you have internet connectivity on the
box there shouldn't be any problem running the program.

You could always try installing another repository as per the
documentation. Randy Kobe's theoryx5.uwinnipeg.ca repository is usually
much better than ActiveState's anyway.

Matt

 

[Henry Law]

My apologies if this isn't the best place to post this question, but
its the best I could find.

Y, strictly that's off topic; this is a Perl _language_ group.

But have you Googled? I did, on your behalf, using [ "can't connect to
ppm.ActiveState.com:80" ] as the argument. Got lots of hits, some of
them talking about proxies and such. Suggest you follow that up,
because your problem is (IMO) to do with your network setup, not Perl.

 

[frank]

The most likely causes are a firewall, no internet connectivity on the
machine, or that their repositories were offline for whatever reason
when you were trying to connect.

PPM will first search the repository for a matching ppd file, and if
one is found it will use the instructions in the file to download and
install the module for you. If you have internet connectivity on the
box there shouldn't be any problem running the program.

You could always try installing another repository as per the
documentation. Randy Kobe's theoryx5.uwinnipeg.ca repository is usually
much better than ActiveState's anyway.

Matt

As I have internet connectivity, I'm assuming that it's having a
problem with the firewall. I guess my question then becomes, what
technology is PPM using to access ActivePerl's site? Is it HTTP or
FTP?

But, regarding your alternative, it seems possible that I can download
what I need from either ActiveState's website or Randy Kobe's site and
then install from there without issue.

 

[Sisyphus]

My apologies if this isn't the best place to post this question, but
its the best I could find.

Imho, you're better to post to the perl-win32-users list hosted by
ActiveState. See http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Mail/ .
(You need to first subscribe.)

"Error: No valid repositories: Error 500: Can't connect to
ppm.ActiveState.com:80 (connect: Unknown error) Error: 500 Can't
connect to ppm.ActiveState.com:80 (connect: Unknown error)"

As others have pointed out, it's probably a firewall issue. ActivePerl comes
with documentation that tells you how to deal with this.

Browse to C:\Perl\html\index.html (amend in accordance to where you've
actually installed Perl). In the left hand frame, a few lines down you'll
see a link to "using PPM". That leads to a link to "PPM, Proxies and
Firewalls" that tells you how to deal with firewalls and proxies.

Cheers,
Rob

 

[Matt Garrish]

As I have internet connectivity, I'm assuming that it's having a
problem with the firewall. I guess my question then becomes, what
technology is PPM using to access ActivePerl's site? Is it HTTP or
FTP?

PPM runs over HTTP. There's a whole section in the documentation on how
to configure PPM to get around the problem of firewalls and proxies.
I'm assuming you have read the manual over and tried the methods
presented there?

But, regarding your alternative, it seems possible that I can download
what I need from either ActiveState's website or Randy Kobe's site and
then install from there without issue.

AS has a zip archive, but it's generally more out of date than their
repository. I would try and discover what your problem is before
resorting to it.

Matt

 

[frank]

Thank you all. The solution was the HTTP_PROXY environment variable
and, as it turns, determining the correct value for that (a purely
internal matter). I appreciate everyone's insight.