Installing Perl Modules on 1and1

I was trying to figure out how to install perl modules on my hosting provider 1and1.com. I was doing an old school install where I was unpacking and making the modules myself. Yep… as usual there was a better way. Yes, I’m a bonehead but since I need a scapegoat I’m blaming it on the Yahoo dev environment. It’s made me soft and I needed to figure out the right way to do this.

That said, cpan.pm comes with most standard perl installs and totally makes installing modules easier. It handles dependencies, downloads, unpacking, etc. All I really had to do was configure the env. This seemed to be the one snag that wasn’t well documented. I was getting something like the following error when running $ perl -MCPAN -e shell:

Your configuration suggests “/root/.cpan” as your CPAN.pm working directory. I could not create this directory due to this error: mkdir /root/.cpan: Permission denied at /usr/lib/perl5/5.6.1/CPAN.pm line 499
Please make sure the directory exists and is writable.

The solution was found here:
  http://www.dcc.fc.up.pt/~pbrandao/aulas/0203/AR/modules_inst_cpan.html

The site describes the following steps which I modified to work for me:

  1. Create a directory for the perl modules in your HOME
    $ mkdir ~/perl5lib
  2. Create ~/.cpan and ~/.cpan/CPAN directories:
    mkdir ~/.cpan
    mkdir ~/.cpan/CPAN

  3. Create a Config.pm for the CPAN module with $CPAN::Config empty
    $ echo “$CPAN::Config = {}”> ~/.cpan/CPAN/MyConfig.pm
  4. Execute again:
    $ perl -MCPAN -e shell
    This time (if all goes well) it will prompt you for the empty fields in $CPAN::Config.

Here’s where I modified things:

  1. Exit the cpan interactive shell
  2. Pick a directory where you want to keep your local copy of perl modules. I chose: ~/perl as the prefix.
  3. Create the directory there and make sure you have permissions to write.
  4. Start the cpan interactive shell again using $ perl -MCPAN -e shell
  5. You need to re-configure the conf to point at your new directory.
  6. o conf makepl_arg “LIB=~/perl/lib
    INSTALLMAN1DIR=~/perl/man/man1
    INSTALLMAN3DIR=~/perl/man/man3″
  7. o conf commit ( this will make the changes permanent )
  8. exit the cpan interactive shell again and modify your env vars to point at the new locations
  9. export PERL5LIB=${PERL5LIB}:~/perl/lib (If you want this to be permanent then modify your ~/.bashrc)
  10. restart the cpan interactive shell and you’re set to start installing

Stupid AT&T … or stupid me?

I’m on the phone right now with AT&T help. We’ll see how well they can do to help me with my problem. The problem is the connection is really slow. I might not have even thought this was an issue and just something with my distance from the CO. The only problem is that this all started when I switched modems and started using the shitty one they sent me.

I switched since my neighbor downstairs that I share with was killing the connection. I thought switching to the original equipment and my fancy new router would be better. I moved to the speedstream 4100 modem with the Netgear WGT624 router.

Here they are…… ( Sun 5:08 ) …  we’ll see how things go….

Back — ( Mon 10am )

Wooo hooo.  Speed was 250K -> 350K.  Now I’m up to 1.2 mbps.  I knew there had to be more speed in the connection.  I was on the phone with various techs for about 2 hours.  It ended up being worth it.  When I finally got to the right people at AT&T they fixed the line in about 15 mins.  Their tests said my line could support up to 7 mpbs.  Not sure if I’ll go that high, but its nice to know.  I may move up to the 3mbps package since I’m thinking of trying to get rid of Comcast.

I created a Yahoo Mobile Widget

The widget I created is kinda lame but I wanted to see what the framework was like and get a little feel for mobile application development. Here’s a link to the widget:

Click here for the widget

Here’s the description:

This is a simple widget to help dial numbers like 1800-Call-ATT or 1866-store-it. If you have a QWERTY or other non-legacy keyboard (Blackberry, Treo, etc.) then this widget is for you. Enter the number as you see it. The widget will give you the numeric equivalent and a call link so you can simply press to dial.

Michelin Guide ( Taken from Chez Pim )

 

The new Michelin Guide for San Francisco is out. Let the critic’s critics get to work.

THREE STARS
The French Laundry

TWO STARS

Aqua
Chez TJ (new)
Cyrus
Manresa
Meadowood (new)
Michael Mina

ONE STAR

Acquerello
Ame (new)
Auberge du Soleil
Bistro Jeanty
Boulevard
Chez Panisse
Coi (new)
Cortez (new)

Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton,
Farmhouse Inn
Fifth Floor
Fleur de Lys
Gary Danko
K & L Bistro
La Folie
La Toque
Madrona Manor (new)
Martini House (new)

Masa’s San Francisco
One Market (new)
Quince
Range
Redd (new)
Rubicon
Sushi-Ran
Terra

BIB GOURMAND (Under $40)
A 16
Annaliên
Bar Tartine
BarBersQ
Bay Wolf
Betelnut Pejiu Wu
Café Gibraltar
Celadon
Clementine
Cook St. Helena
Cucina Paradiso
Delfina
Gaylord
Hong Kong Flower Lounge
Insalata’s
Junnoon
Kokkari Estiatorio
Koo
Le Charm
Mamacita
Mirepoix
Namu
Nopa
Olivia
Osake
Perbacco
Poleng
Pres A Vi
Rin’s Thai
Risibisi
rnm
Sauce
Scott Howard
Slanted Door (The)
Slow Club
Sociale
South Park Café
Tablespoon
Tamarindo
Tokyo Go Go
Tommaso’s
TWO
2223
Universal Café
Vanessa’s Bistro
Venticello
Willi’s Seafood & Raw Bar
Willi’s Wine Bar
Yank Sing
Zuzu