Hi.

This is a fantastic module, and it is very useful once you manage to get it to work! The only drawback (if you can call it that -- code reuse being a "Good Thing" after all) is that it has about 15 dependant modules which you must install before you get the privilege of actually using it. You don't *need* all of them, but I didn't want to risk not having a feature I might need, and then having to go through the installation headache again. ;-)

Currently, these module dependencies are:

MIME::Base64
Data::Buffer
Math::Pari
Compress::Zlib
Crypt::DES_EDE3 (for 3DES)
Crypt::IDEA (for IDEA)
Crypt::Blowfish (for Blowfish)
Crypt::Twofish (for Twofish)
Crypt::Rijndael (for Rijndael)
Crypt::CAST5_PP (for CAST5)
Digest::MD5 (for MD5)
Digest::SHA1 (for SHA-1)
Crypt::RIPEMD160 (for RIPE-MD/160)
Crypt::RSA (for RSA encryption/decryption and signatures)
Crypt::DSA (for DSA signatures)

Normally, this would not be an issue, however it does mostly rely on crypto modules which aren't in the ActiveState ppm3 repository due to Canadian export restrictions on crypto software.

More info here: http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Downloads/ActivePerl/PPM/Repository

Many of the required modules can be found in Randy Kobes' PPM repository at http://theoryx5.uwinnipeg.ca/ppms.

Unfortunately, to get FULL support for all the features of this module, there is currently no alternative but to "Build It Yourself". I already have built some of the modules myself, but I don't really want to make my versions available, since they work for me on a specific version of Perl, but wouldn't necessarily work for anyone else. They weren't built using VC6, so they are very likely to simply crash Perl or just fail to load. YMMV.

To build them yourself, and if you don't have access to a Visual C compiler (which I'm assuming you don't, since why would you be looking for ppms otherwise), you need to do a few things. [Note: this approach worked for me to build the few missing modules I needed for Crypt::OpenPGP. I have found that this method works best when you are using pure XS (i.e. with all the C code distributed with the module), it is unlikely to work at all if the module relies on a shared or static library (.dll).]

1. Download nmake. This is pretty much essential for building any CPAN modules on Windows with ActiveState Perl. I simply unpacked nmake to C:\Perl\bin. Get it here: ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/mslfiles/nmake15.exe
2. Download MinGW GCC from here: http://www.mingw.org/download.shtml. This is the best chance you'll have at building XS modules without using VC6. Note: cygwin GCC won't work with ActiveState Perl. Ensure that gcc.exe and others are in your PATH environment varaible.
3. Download ExtUtils::FakeConfig and install (with your new nmake) in the usual CPAN way:

   perl Makefile.PL
   nmake
   nmake test
   nmake install
   

   This module allows you to build ActiveState modules with MinGW more easily. Once this module is installed, open up C:\Perl\site\lib\Config_m.pm, and change the config line:

   make='dmake'
   

   into:

   make='nmake'
   

   ExtUtils::FakeConfig should now be ready for use.
4. Next, you will actually need to build and install the "missing" crypto modules. These are the modules for which no ppm is easily available, either from Theoryx5 or ActiveState repositories. At the time I built this module, the missing modules were:
   • Crypt::CAST5_PP (easy - this is a pure Perl module)
   • Crypt::RIPEMD160 (this is XS -- you will need to compile)
   • Crypt::Twofish (this is XS -- you will need to compile)
   To install these compiled modules, download the module distrbutions from CPAN, then in the unpacked directories, type the following to invoke ExtUtils::FakeConfig:

   perl -MConfig_m Makefile.PL
   nmake
   nmake test
   nmake install
   

   This should work whether the module is XS or not.
5. Next you will need to install the required PPM modules. Below is a Windows .bat file which I wrote to automate the process somewhat.
   Read more... (3 kB)
   Where the batch file says 'unzip this module into ...', this was because I created zip files for each of the XS modules I was installing. Feel free to do this any way you please or to alter the batch file to suit your needs.
6. Finally, install Crypt::OpenPGP. Hopefully, all the tests should run without error, since you have installed all the dependencies above.

After all this, you should be done! :-) Perhaps some kind soul with Visual C++ 6 (the same version as Perl is built with) would take pity, and build ppm version of the missing modules? Perl folk are a generous lot, so you never know...

Of course, after all this effort, you may like to ask yourself: why not just shell out to gpg.exe? ;-) I'll leave the answer to that to you...

I hope that this helps.

$q=[split+qr,,,q,~swmi,.$,],+s.$.Em~w^,,.,s,.,$&&$$q[pos],eg,print

Many CPAN modules that aren't available via PPM from the Active State repository, are available from other PPM repositories.

You can use google to try and locate individuals and then install using explicit instructions as tachyon showed.

You can also add the names of one or more extra repositories to PPM so that a PPM search module::name will search at all the repositories to tell it about.

One problem is that the instructions for adding extra repositories that I've found displayed at many of the other sites are out of date. The say something like:

P:\test>ppm
PPM - Programmer's Package Manager version 3.1.
Copyright (c) 2001 ActiveState Corp. All Rights Reserved.
ActiveState is a devision of Sophos.

Entering interactive shell. Using Term::ReadLine::Stub as readline lib
+rary.

Type 'help' to get started.

ppm> set rep winnipeg http://theoryx5.uwinnipeg.ca/ppms
Unknown or ambiguous setting 'rep'. See 'help settings'.
ppm>
[download]

and if you follow the prompt and type "help settings", it tells you exactly nothing about repositories.

The way to do it now is

c:\> ppm
ppm> rep add winnipeg http://theoryx5.uwinnipeg.ca/ppms

ppm> rep
Repositories:
[1] Jenda
[2] winnipeg
[3] ActiveState PPM2 Repository
[4] ActiveState Package Repository
[5] Roth
[6] bioperl

ppm> rep describe 2
Describing Active Repository 2:
    Name: winnipeg
Location: http://theoryx5.uwinnipeg.ca/ppms
    Type: Webpage
ppm>

ppm> search IPC::Run
Searching in Active Repositories
  1. IPC-Run  [0.77] system() and background procs w/ piping, redirs, 
+ptys (Unix, Win32)
  2. IPC-Run  [0.78] system() and background procs w/ piping, redirs, 
+ptys (Unix, Win32)
  3. IPC-Run3 [0.01] Run a subprocess in batch mode (a la system) on U
+nix, Win32, etc.

ppm> describe 2
====================
Package 2:
    Name: IPC-Run
 Version: 0.78
  Author: Barrie Slaymaker (barries@slaysys.com)
   Title: IPC-Run
Abstract: system() and background procs w/ piping, redirs, ptys (Unix,
+ Win32)
Location: ActiveState PPM2 Repository
Available Platforms:
       1. MSWin32-x86-multi-thread-5.8
====================

ppm> install 2
Package 2:
Note: Package 'IPC-Run' is already installed.
====================
Install 'IPC-Run' version 0.78 in ActivePerl 5.8.3.809.
====================
Downloaded 99775 bytes.
Extracting 17/17: blib/arch/auto/IPC/Run/.exists
Successfully installed IPC-Run version 0.78 in ActivePerl 5.8.3.809.
ppm>
[download]

See "help rep" at the PPM prompt for (much) more.

Unfortunately, Crypt::OpenPGP doesn't appear to be available for 5.8 on any of the repositories I have set up.

Addendum: I found this which basically repeats the information above, but also has the longest list of PPM repositories I've yet seen.

Unfortunately none of them has Crypt::OpenPGP for 5.8 either.

C:\>ppm install http://theoryx5.uwinnipeg.ca/ppms(or 5.8 path)/Crypt-W
+hatever.ppd
[download]

If you need to install modules with XS or other components that need a c compiler, you'll need a c compiler :-)

If you do that a lot, it might be simpler for you to install Cygwin, which comes with gcc and the rest of the GNU c toolchain.

Usually you invoke the CPAN shell as:

perl -MCPAN -e shell
[download]

install Crypt::OpenPGP
[download]