ppm2 - Perl Package Manager: locate, install, upgrade software packages.
PPM is a utility intended to simplify the tasks of locating, installing,
upgrading and removing software packages. It is a front-end to the
functionality provided in PPM.pm. It can determine if the most recent
version of a software package is installed on a system, and can install
or upgrade that package from a local or remote host.
ppm2 runs in one of two modes: an interactive shell from which commands
may be entered; and command-line mode, in which one specific action is
performed per invocation of the program.
ppm2 uses files containing an extended form of the Open Software
Description (OSD) specification for information about software packages.
These description files, which are written in Extensible Markup
Language (XML) code, are referred to as 'PPD' files. Information about
OSD can be found at the W3C web site (at the time of this writing,
http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-OSD.html). The extensions to OSD used by PPM
are documented in PPM.ppd.
- Interactive mode
-
If ppm2 is invoked with no command specified, it is started in interactive
mode. If the '--location' argument is specified, it is used as the
search location, otherwise the repositories specified in the PPM data file
are used.
The syntax of PPM commands is the same in interactive mode as it is in
command-line mode. The 'help' command lists the available commands.
ppm2 commands may be abbreviated to their shortest unique form.
- Installing
-
ppm2 install [--location=location] package1 [... packageN]
Installs the specified software packages. Attempts to install from the
URL or directory 'location' if the '--location' option is specfied.
The 'package' arguments may be either package names ('foo'), pathnames
(p:/packages/foo.ppd) or URLs (http://www.ActiveState.com/packages/foo.ppd)
to specific PPD files.
In the case where a package name is specified, and the '--location'
option is not used, ppm2 will refer to the default repository locations.
See also: 'confirm' option.
- Removing
-
ppm2 remove package1 [... packageN]
Reads information from the PPD file for the named software package and
removes the package from the system.
See also: 'confirm' option.
- Verifying
-
ppm2 verify [--location=location] [--upgrade] [--force] [package1 ... packageN]
Verifies that the currently installed packages are up to date. If no
packages are specified as arguments, all installed packages will be verified.
If the '--upgrade' option is specified, any package for which an upgrade
is available will be upgraded.
If the '--location' option is specified, upgrades will be looked for at
the specified URL or directory.
If the '--force' option is specified, all currently installed packages will
be reinstalled regardless of whether they are out of date or not.
See also: 'confirm' option.
- Querying
-
ppm2 query [--case|nocase] [--abstract|author] PATTERN
Searches for 'PATTERN' (a regular expression) in the name of any installed
package. If a search is successful, information about the matching
package(s) is displayed. If 'PATTERN' is omitted, information about
all installed packages will be displayed.
If either '--abstract' or '--author' is specified, PATTERN will be
searched for in the <ABSTRACT> or <AUTHOR> tags of the installed packages.
The '--case' and '--nocase' options can be used to override the default
case-sensitivity search settings.
See also: 'case' option.
- Searching
-
ppm2 search [--case|nocase] [--location=location] [--abstract|author] PATTERN
Displays a list of any packages matching 'PATTERN' (a regular expression)
available from the specified location. If 'PATTERN' is omitted, information
about all available packages will be displayed.
If the '--location' option is specified, the specified URL or directory
will be searched. If '--location' is not specified, the repository location
as specified in the PPM data file will be searched.
If either '--abstract' or '--author' is specified, PATTERN will be
searched for in the <ABSTRACT> or <AUTHOR> tags of the available packages.
The '--case' and '--nocase' options can be used to override the default
case-sensitivity search settings.
See also: 'case' option.
- Error Recovery
-
ppm2 genconfig
ppm2 getconfig
The genconfig command will print a valid PPM config file (ppm.xml) to STDOUT.
This can be useful if the PPM config file ever gets damaged leaving PPM
unusable.
If required, this command should be run from a shell prompt:
C:\Perl\site\lib> ppm2 genconfig > ppm.xml
The getconfig command prints the location of the PPM configuration file
used at PPM startup.
- Options
-
ppm2 set [option value]
Sets or displays current options. With no arguments, current option
settings are displayed. For options that accept '1' or '0', specifying
'1' sets the option, and '0' unsets it.
Available options:
build DIRECTORY
- Changes the package build directory.
case [1|0]
- Sets case-sensitive searches. If one of '1' or '0' is
not specified, the current setting is toggled.
clean [1|0]
- Sets removal of temporary files from package's build
area, on successful installation of a package. If one of
'1' or '0' is not specified, the current setting is
toggled.
confirm [1|0]
- Sets confirmation of 'install', 'remove' and 'upgrade'.
If one of '1' or '0' is not specified, the current
setting is toggled.
downloadstatus NUMBER
- If non-zero, updates the download status after each NUMBER
of bytes transferred during an 'install'. This can be
reassuring when installing a large package (e.g. Tk) over
a low-speed connection.
force_install [1|0]
- Continue installing a package even if a dependency cannot
be installed.
more NUMBER
- Causes output to pause after NUMBER lines have been
displayed. Specifying '0' turns off this capability.
rebuildhtml [1|0]
- Sets regeneration of HTML documentation after installing
a package. If one of '1' or '0' is not specified, the
current setting is toggled.
repository --remove NAME
- Removes the repository 'NAME' from the list of repositories.
repository NAME LOCATION
- Adds a repository to the list of PPD repositories for this
session. 'NAME' is the name by which this repository will
be referred; 'LOCATION' is a URL or directory name.
root DIRECTORY
- Changes the install root directory. Packages will be
installed under this new root.
save
- Saves the current options as default options for future
sessions.
trace
- Tracing level--default is 1, maximum is 4, 0 indicates
no tracing.
tracefile
- File to contain tracing information, default is 'PPM.LOG'.
verbose [1|0]
- Display additional package information for 'query' and
'search' commands.
The following files are fully described in the 'Files' section of PPM:ppm.
