Create a personal bundle of your favorite modules. It never fails. I'm working on a new computer, a friend's computer, or a work computer and I've installed my favorite modules and written some code. use My::Favorite::Module; My::Favorite::Module->washes_the_dishes( ); Then I run the program. Can't locate My/Favorite/Module.pm in @INC (@INC contains ... I did it again. I forgot to install the one module I really needed. Hopefully it's the last one. Of course, even if you never forget to install your favorites, it's still a pain to laboriously install a bunch of modules every time you have a new Perl installation. That's where personal bundles come in. The HackA personal bundle is very easy to make. Just create a normal CPAN distribution. You don't even need to write tests for it: the modules you list will (hopefully) test themselves. Instead, create an empty package with the modules you want listed in your POD contents section [Hack #32]. For example, suppose that you're a testing fanatic. You want to install your favorite testing modules, so you decide to call your bundle Bundle::Personal:: Mine (where Mine is your PAUSE ID). package Bundle::Personal::Mine; $VERSION = '0.42'; 1; __END__ =head1 NAME Bundle::Personal::Mine - My favorite testing modules =head1 SYNOPSIS perl -MCPAN -e 'install Bundle::Personal::Mine' =head1 CONTENTS Test::Class Test::Differences Test::Exception Test::MockModule Test::Pod Test::Pod::Coverage Test::WWW::Mechanize =head1 DESCRIPTION My favorite modules. ... rest of POD, if any ... Then just package up your tarball and stow it in a safe place (or even upload it to the CPAN). Running the HackFrom then on, to install all of your favorite modules, just type cpanp i Bundle::Personal::Mine for CPANPLUS, perl -MCPAN -e 'install Bundle::Personal::Mine' for CPAN, or whatever your favorite module installation incantation is. Hacking the HackWhen preparing a personal bundle, be selective about what you include. If you include a module that routinely fails tests, the entire bundle installation might fail. If that happens, try to install the errant module manually and return to installing the bundle. It's generally a bad idea to force the installation of a module with failing tests until you understand why they fail. This is especially true when working on a new machine. Other uses for such bundles include software development kits, corporate bundles, and application support modules. The CPAN already has bundles for Bundle::Test, Bundle::BioPerl, Bundle::MiniVend, and so on. Go to your favorite CPAN mirror and search for bundles. The bundle you want to create may already exist.
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