http://qs321.pair.com?node_id=673826

How many times did you wanted for Module::Install to just install available Debian packages and THEN use CPAN? I did several times. Here is quick diff to Module::Install::AutoInstall which does just that...
--- /home/dpavlin/.cpan/build/Module-Install-0.68/lib/Module/Install/A +utoInstall.pm 2007-10-31 11:34:27.000000000 +0000 +++ /usr/local/share/perl/5.8.8/Module/Install/AutoInstall.pm 2008-0 +3-12 20:58:01.000000000 +0000 @@ -30,6 +30,15 @@ my @core = map @$_, map @$_, grep ref, $self->build_requires, $self->requires; + my @debs; + while ( my $module = shift @core ) { + my $ver = shift @core; + my $deb = 'lib' . lc($module) . '-perl'; + $deb =~ s/::/-/g; + push @debs, $deb; + } + system "sudo apt-get install @debs"; + my @config = @_; # We'll need Module::AutoInstall