Question

I am attempting to install a Perl Module entitled: File-Copy-Recursive and I am following these steps:

1) open cmd.exe
2) perl -MCPAN -e ‘install File::Copy::Recursive;’

and I receive the message “It looks like you don’t have a C compiler and make utility installed. Trying to install dmake and the MinGW gcc compiler using the Perl Package Manager. This may take a few minutes…”

“Downloading ActiveState Package Repository packlist…failed 500 Can’t connect to ppm4.activestate.com:80 (connect: timeout).
Downloading File-Copy-Recursive packlist…not found
ppm.bat install failed: Can’t find any package that provides MinGW”

These failed because I am behind a proxy, and I do know the proxy settings but I don’t know how to apply them in this situation.

Is anyone aware of any alternative fixes to this solution?

Thank you.

Answer 1

It seems you are using ActiveState Perl, which comes with its own package manager (called PPM) to ease the pain of installing modules, especially those which would normally require a C compiler to be able to install.

Try following the instructions to set up your environment so that PPM knows about your proxy. For example, to set the proxy settings for a single instance of cmd.exe:

C:\>set http_proxy=http://username:[e-mail]:8080

Then, in the same command prompt window, try this (it works for me, though I’m not behind a proxy):

C:\>ppm install File-Copy-Recursive

Note that it’s probably a good idea (maybe even required?) to run cmd.exe “As Administrator” to make sure it has full authorization.

EDIT: The particular module you want to use is written in pure Perl. For a quick “installation”, you can just download it from CPAN, extract the files, and copy the “Recursive.pm” file into a File\Copy directory structure placed in the same directory as your script:

yourscript.pl
File\
    Copy\
        Recursive.pm