perlbrew(1) - Linux man page

Name

perlbrew - Perl Environment manager.

Synopsis

perlbrew <command> [options] [arguments]

Commonly used commands:
    init           Initialize perlbrew environment.
    install        Install perl
    uninstall      Uninstall the given installation
    list           List installed perls
    use            Use the specified perl in current shell
    available      List perls available to install
    switch         Permanently use the specified perl as default
    mirror         Pick a preferred mirror site
    off            Permanently turn off perlbrew, go back to system Perl
    version        Display version
    help           Read more detailed instructions

Examples:
    perlbrew install perl-5.14.0
    perlbrew install 5.12.3

    perlbrew list

    perlbrew use perl-5.12.3
    perlbrew switch perl-5.14.0

    perlbrew switch /path/to/special/perl
    perlbrew switch /path/to/special/perl special-perl

    # later
    perlbrew switch special-perl

Commands

init

Run this once to setup the "perlbrew" directory ready for installing perls into. Run it again if you decide to change "PERLBREW_ROOT".

install perl-<version-number>

install <version-number>

Build and install the given version of perl.

Version numbers usually look like "5.x.xx", or "perl-5.xx.x-RCx" for release candidates.

The specified perl is downloaded from the CPAN website, unless mirror setting are present.

install perl-blead

install blead

A special way to install the blead version of perl.

The blead version is downloaded from:

http://perl5.git.perl.org/perl.git/snapshot/blead.tar.gz

This command does not consult mirror settings.

install /path/to/perl/git/checkout/dir

Build and install from the given git checkout dir.

install /path/to/perl-5.14.0.tar.gz

Build and install from the given archive file.

install http://example.com/mirror/perl-5.12.3.tar.gz

Build and install from the given URL . Supported URL schemes are "http://", "https://", "ftp://" and "file://".

uninstall <target>

Uninstalls the given version.

mirror

Run this if you want to choose a specific CPAN mirror to install the perls from. It will display a list of mirrors for you to pick from. Hit 'q' to cancel the selection.

list

List the installed versions of perl.

use [perl-<version>]

use [<version>]

Switch to the given version of perl only in the current shell. This will not effect newly opened shells.

You can use as "perl-version" the special keyword "system" to stop using any perlbrew-based perl.

Without a parameter, shows the version of perl currently in use.

available

Displays the available versions of perl on CPAN .

switch [perl-<version>]

switch [<version>]

Switch to the given version, and makes it the default for this and all future terminal sessions.

Without a parameter, shows the version of perl currently selected.

alias [-f] create <name> <alias>

Create an alias for the installation named <name>.

alias [-f] rename <old_alias> <new_alias>

Rename the alias to a new name.

alias delete <alias>

Delete the given alias.

off
Disable perlbrew. Use "switch" command to re-enable it.

Re-enables the default system Perl, whatever that is.

exec command

Execute command for all perls.

For example, run a Hello program:

perlbrew exec perl -e 'print "Hello from $]\n"'

Depending on your actual installations, the output might look like this:

perl-5.12.2
==========
Hello word from perl-5.012002

perl-5.12.3
==========
Hello word from perl-5.012003

perl-5.13.10
==========
Hello word from perl-5.013010

perl-5.14.0
==========
Hello word from perl-5.014000

env [perl-version]

Low-level command. Use this command to see the list of environment variables that are set by "perlbrew" itself for shell integration.

The output is something similar to this (if your shell is bash):

export PERLBREW_ROOT=/Users/gugod/perl5/perlbrew
export PERLBREW_VERSION=0.13
export PERLBREW_PATH=/Users/gugod/perl5/perlbrew/bin:/Users/gugod/perl5/perlbrew/perls/current/bin
export PERLBREW_PERL=perl-5.12.3

You can also ask for the proper variables for a specific perl version.

symlink_executables <perl-version>

Low-level command. Use this command to create the "perl" executable symbolic link to , say, "perl5.13.6". This is only useful for development version of perls.

You don't need to do this unless you have been using old perlbrew to install perls. The installation layout is changed since version 0.11.

If you just upgraded perlbrew and found "perlbrew switch" failed to work after you switch to a development release of perl, say, perl-5.13.6, run this command:

perlbrew symlink_executables perl-5.13.6

This essentially creates this symlink:

${PERLBREW_ROOT}/perls/perl-5.13.6/bin/perl
-> ${PERLBREW_ROOT}/perls/perl-5.13.6/bin/perl5.13.6

install-cpanm

Install the "cpanm" standalone executable in "$PERLBREW_ROOT/bin".

self-upgrade

This command upgrades Perlbrew to its latest version.

version

Show the version of perlbrew.

Options

-h| --help

prints this help.

-f| --force

Force installation of a perl.

-j Enable parallel make and test (if supported by the target perl)

perlbrew install -j 5 perl-5.12.3

-n| --notest

Skip the test suite

-q| --quiet

Log output to a log file rather than STDOUT . This is the default. The log file is saved in $ROOT/build.log

-v| --verbose

Log output to STDOUT rather than a log file.

--as

Install a given perl under an alias.

perlbrew install perl-5.6.2 --as legacy-perl

-D, -U, -A

pass through switches to the perl Configure script.

perlbrew install perl-5.10.1 -D usemymalloc -U uselargefiles

Configuration

PERLBREW_ROOT

By default, perlbrew builds and installs perls into "$ENV{HOME}/perl5/perlbrew" directory. To use a different directory, set this environment variable in your "bashrc" to the directory before running perlbrew.

Upgrade Notes

If you upgraded "perlbrew" from version 0.16 or older, you should do this cleanup your setup. Failure to do so might make the "use" command to fail.

Note the version of perl currently selected with "perlbrew switch". Then turn "perlbrew off", and switched back again with "perlbrew switch previous-perl-version".