Module packaging conundrum

[J Krugman]

I want to package some Perl software for distribution using MakeMaker,
but there's a problem, having to do with the nature of the software
and its expected audience. First, the heart of the package is a
CGI script that uses modules in the package. Second, a large
fraction (maybe the majority) of this software's intended audience
will not have administrator powers. This means that the modules
in the package will necessarily be installed in a special location
unknown to the server serving the CGI script.

What's the best way to deal with this situation? I suppose that
I could have some kluge in Makefile.PL that figured out the intended
installation directory and programmatically inserted the appropriate
'use lib ...' statements into the Perl source, but I find this
solution profoundly unsavory, but it's the only thing I can come
up with.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Jill

 

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson]

I want to package some Perl software for distribution using
MakeMaker, but there's a problem, having to do with the nature of
the software and its expected audience. First, the heart of the
package is a CGI script that uses modules in the package. Second,
a large fraction (maybe the majority) of this software's intended
audience will not have administrator powers. This means that the
modules in the package will necessarily be installed in a special
location unknown to the server serving the CGI script.

My first (and so far only) CPAN module fits your description. I
thought about simply publishing the code as a script instead, but I
finally decided to put the principal code in a couple of modules and
make the CGI script basically a 'wrapper' with just a few lines of code.

I believe that most users among my intended audience don't know what
MakeMaker and Makefile.PL are. Consequently, I included a section in
the POD which describes rather detailed how to install the package by
just uploading the .pm files to a local Perl library:

http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?CGI::ContactForm

Maybe that can give you some idea.

I'm very interested in getting to know about the solution you finally
decide to apply.

 

[J Krugman]

I believe that most users among my intended audience don't know what
MakeMaker and Makefile.PL are. Consequently, I included a section in
the POD which describes rather detailed how to install the package by
just uploading the .pm files to a local Perl library...

In my case it is hard to avoid MakeMaker, because the software
includes a Perl extension in C, so compilation and proper placement
of the resulting files is required.

Jill