Question

How can I get the current machine hostname in Perl? I’m looking for a way that works both in Linux and Windows.

With a websearch I found the module Sys::Hostname, however I can’t install it

install Sys::Hostname
Going to read '/home/stivlo/.cpan/Metadata'
  Database was generated on Sat, 04 Jun 2011 15:27:16 GMT
Running install for module 'Sys::Hostname'
The most recent version "1.16" of the module "Sys::Hostname"
is part of the perl-5.13.11 distribution. To install that, you need to run
  force install Sys::Hostname   --or--
  install F/FL/FLORA/perl-5.13.11.tar.gz
Running make test
  Can't test without successful make
Running make install
  Make had returned bad status, install seems impossible
Failed during this command:
 FLORA/perl-5.13.11.tar.gz                    : make NO isa perl

My Perl version for this test is 5.10.1 on Linux Ubuntu, and I will use Strawberry Perl on windows.

Answer 1

It’s telling you that it’s already installed; Sys::Hostname has been part of the Perl distribution for years. You can rely on it being installed unless the machine was last updated somewhere in the early 90s.