CPAN(1) 						 Perl Programmers Reference Guide						   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 com-
       mand 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 finishes 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 This prints one line for each out-of-date module (meaning, modules locally installed but have newer versions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       -O  Show the out-of-date modules.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, "<bdfoy@cpan.org>"

COPYRIGHT

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

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

perl v5.8.9							    2009-04-13								   CPAN(1)