What is the Perl Package Manager (PPM)?

The Perl Package Manager (PPM) provides a command line interface for managing your Win32-compatible Perl modules and extensions (packages). PPM allows you to access package repositories, install and remove packages from your system, and update packages you previously installed using PPM with the latest versions.

How do I install PPM?

PPM is installed when you install Perl for Win32. You can install Perl for Win32 from within the ActivePerl installer.

How do I run PPM?

Before you run PPM, you should be connected to the Internet. If your Internet connection is via a firewall or proxy, you should set the environment variable 'HTTP_proxy' to the name of this proxy server. If your proxy server requires a username and password, the environment variables 'HTTP_proxy_user' and 'HTTP_proxy_pass' should be set to these values.

PPM can then be run by typing 'ppm' in a command prompt window.

How do I use PPM?

Quick start: at the PPM command prompt, type 'search' to get a listing of all available packages, then type 'install <packagename>', where <packagename> is the name of a package displayed by the 'search' command. To list the packages you have previously installed using PPM, use the 'query' command.

If you find the listing of packages scrolls by too quickly, you may want to use the command 'set more <number>' to pause the listing after <number> packages have been displayed. Use the 'set save' command to save this configuration for future PPM sessions.

By default, PPM will use the ActiveState package repository, but this too can be configured using the 'set' command.

Below is a listing of key PPM commands (you can type 'help <command>' at the PPM prompt for usage details for a particular <command>). Items in [brackets] are optional.