The MinGW and dmake cpan starts to install

sg has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hello,

After installing the latest ActivePerl 5.12.x, I tried the command cpan -h This immediately started the process of installing MinGW and dmake. This unexpected action was unnerving, and I killed the attempt. I do plan to install MinGW on my own, and tried to find out what MinGW cpan wanted to install, and about potential conflicts, duplication, etc. I might run into when I installed the regular MinGW.

The commands ppm search mingw and ppm search dmake provides links http://search.cpan.org/dist/MinGW-5.1.4.1/ and http://search.cpan.org/dist/dmake-4.11.20080107/ but both links are broken.

I found two documentations for cpan (cpan - easily interact with CPAN from the command line and CPAN - query, download and build perl modules from CPAN sites) but neither documentation mentions MinGW and dmake and why a request for help immediately starts a download and install process.

Anyway,

What is the MinGW-5.1.4.1 and dmake that cpan wants to install?
Since I plan to install MinGW on my own, should I do so before running cpan or are the two MinGWs different?
The MinGW I install will have make; will cpan still want to install dmake?
Regarding the broken links provided by ppm, what is the proper links?

Thanks

Comment on The MinGW and dmake cpan starts to install

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Re: The MinGW and dmake cpan starts to install by syphilis (Archbishop) on Feb 07, 2011 at 01:44 UTC
What is the MinGW-5.1.4.1 and dmake that cpan wants to install? MinGW-5.1.4.1 is just the version of the MinGW package. It will give you gcc-3.4.5 (as well as all the other stuff needed to make it functional). I would expect the dmake that gets installed to be version 4.12-20090907-SHAY. It's not difficult to use a different dmake and/or MinGW than installed by CPAN, should you ever want to. Cheers, Rob	[reply]
Re: The MinGW and dmake cpan starts to install by Anonymous Monk on Feb 07, 2011 at 00:50 UTC
2. Since I plan to install MinGW on my own, should I do so before running cpan or are the two MinGWs different? I have installed MinGW before trying to use cpan (I used it to compile perl), and cpan never tried to install MinGW for me. I mostly use cpanp. 3. The MinGW I install will have make; will cpan still want to install dmake? If you're compiling your own perl for win32, or you're using ActivePerl, you will use nmake or dmake, never make `perl -V:make` [download] You can override make choice at runtime using `perl Makefile.PL make=make perl Makefile.PL make=nmake perl Makefile.PL make=dmake` [download] dmake is preferred. 4. Regarding the broken links provided by ppm, what is the proper links? dmake is distributed on cpan, dmake/MinGW by ActiveState, both come with http://strawberryperl.com/ http://search.cpan.org/dist/dmake/ (http://search.cpan.org/dist/dmake-4.12-20090907-SHAY/, http://search.cpan.org/~shay/dmake-4.12-20090907-SHAY/ ) http://ppm4.activestate.com/author/MINGW.html MinGW-5.1.4.1.ppmx MinGW-5.1.4.1.ppd MinGW-5.1.4.1.tar.gz	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: The MinGW and dmake cpan starts to install by biohisham (Priest) on Feb 07, 2011 at 07:22 UTC
On Win OS I often opt for UnxUtils that in addition to porting make capabilities it also ports different *nix utilities that you can use on Windows machines. Excellence is an Endeavor of Persistence. A Year-Old Monk :D .	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: The MinGW and dmake cpan starts to install by Anonymous Monk on Feb 07, 2011 at 09:07 UTC
http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net//http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/ are redundant if you're installing MinGW and select install MSYS	[reply]


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