[Bioperl-l] Bioperl 1.5.2 RC5 install onWinXPActivePerl 5.8.8.819

[Chris Fields]

On Dec 1, 2006, at 3:26 AM, Nathan S. Haigh wrote:
...
> In addition, using CPAN allows you to run the test suite easily  
> without the need to download it separately and run it after a PPM  
> install.

A PPM, by design, is supposed to imply that the distribution passes  
tests for the specified platform, at that point in time, after all  
prereqs are installed and any additional postinstall operations  
(install C libraries, modify config files, etc) are complete.  The  
ActiveState automated PPM building process dictates that; if it fails  
any test, it will not be made into a PPM.  It's sort of a 'stamp of  
approval' that all tests pass, so you don't need to run them.

However, a test may fail (and a PPM may not get generated) for pretty  
superficial reasons, such as the makefile not specifying that a  
module is needed, server issues, etc, so the automated process isn't  
fullproof.  That's why Kobes and the other repositories are  
available, where the PPM/PPD is manually generated and made to work  
specifically for Windows (or whatever other platform).

Saying that, it is completely up to the person packaging the  
distribution to follow those rules if one were to make a PPM  
manually.  You don't even have to run tests prior to using 'nmake  
ppd'.  We can currently state, though, that all tests pass when all  
prereqs are installed for this distribution.  At least at this point  
in time!

> I don't know of a way to clean out ActivePerl - I use VMWare  
> Workstation and have a virtual machine with a fresh install of  
> WinXP and ActivePerl 5.8.8.819 - maybe someone else has ideas?

I haven't tried it that way.  I have Parallels on Mac OS X (I run a  
SigmaPlot/Excel combo off it).  My tests were using a native WinXP  
installation (i.e. not virtually) on my old Dell.  It shouldn't make  
a difference; VMWare, Parallels, and the like should all run  
ActivePerl for WinXP since it's a virtual machine.  Windows Vista, on  
the other hand...

I think with PPM4 you can install to a custom directory.  It may be  
possible to install all new modules to that directory, then you would  
at least have an idea of what was there (though I don't think you can  
delete it directly w/o screwing up the PPM database).

chris