INSTALLATION

    <em>Last updated for LinkController 0.33.</em>

    LinkController's installation system is based on that of a normal Perl
    module.

    The module is normally distributed along with several other modules.
    Please install these before LinkController.

    The portability of LinkController to systems other than RedHat Linux is
    likely to be a problem. The scale of that problem will depend on how far
    from RedHat Linux your system is. In the end as I get access to more
    Linux Like systems (e.g. FreeBSD / Hurd etc). I'd like to improve this
    situation, but not at the cost of efficiency and maintainability on
    Linux.

installation from Perl module

    Currently the best way to install LinkController is to directly install
    it as a perl module.

    *   install the CDB system

        If you have RedHat Linux 7.0 or greater, this should be included
        within your distribution. Probably called "freecdb". If not then
        download it from the section on "/packages.debian.org/freecdb" in
        the http: manpage or from RedHat if you have another rpm based
        system.

    *   upgrade the perl CPAN module if needed

        The CPAN module distributed with `perl' 5.6.0 and included in RedHat
        7.1 and 7.2 has bugs which make it try to re-install `perl'
        repeatedly. Download and manually install version 1.59 or newer.
        N.B. don't use CPAN to upgrade itsself. That would trigger the
        `perl' reinstallation.

    *   install LinkController using CPAN

        Run the command `perl -MCPAN -e shell' then within the CPAN shell
        run the command <install WWW::Link_Controller>.

installation from rpm

    The easiest way to install link controller is to have the distribution
    in RPM format. Unfortunately, right now my version of RPM is patched and
    experimental, so I'm not producing RPMs yet. Hopefully, this will soon
    be fixed. In this case, simply install each of the RPMs with
    @command{rpm -i}. Trying to install just `LinkController' will give a
    list of the required rpm packages.

    If your system doesn't run rpm then there isn't yet a pre-packaged
    version (hopefully someone will do a port to Debian's packaging system).

manual installation

    Manual installation is a possibility, however since LinkController has
    been designed with the free use of perl modules, it takes patience. The
    basic technique to solve problems is to try installing each module in
    turn and to solve any requirements that it throws up when you try to do
    so.

  installation pre-requisites

    Before installing LinkController, you must install Perl and a series of
    related Perl modules. The full list is given in
    `lib/Bundle/LinkController.pm'. You may find that trying to install the
    LinkController bundle works for you (see the documentation of the CPAN
    module e.g. with `man CPAN') but it doesn't work for me. If it does work
    then you are sorted.

    The prerequisites can be downloaded from CPAN. the section on
    "/www.cpan.org/" in the http: manpage

  installing the LinkController module

    First you must install Perl and the modules as explained above. Then run
    the following commands.

           Perl Makefile.pl;
           make;
           make test;
           make install;

    The file `check-req.out' should be empty. If it isn't that means that
    you have to install some more Perl modules. Read the file to find out
    which.

    All of the tests should pass. Do make sure that you run them so that you
    know that everything is working properly.

    Please note that you must run `make' before you run `make test' because
    of the configuration of the installation system.

Choosing a Platform

    Installing this software can be easy or difficult depending on what
    operating system platform you are running on.. In approximate order from
    easiest to most difficult (this is my guess).

    *   RedHat Linux equal or better than 6.0 (see the section on
        "/www.redhat.com/" in the http: manpage )

    *   other Linux (see the section on "/www.linux.org/" in the http:
        manpage for example)

    *   SUN-OS with Perl 5.003 or better already

    *   other UNIX Perl 5.003 or better already

    *   UNIX without Perl

    *   WinNT / Windows2000 (use cygwin for the best chance)

    *   Macintosh

    *   Other Windows

    With a previous version I had tried the top four. Probably to get the
    system running on other UNIX systems will require manually setting up
    the system since the programs for doing the default installation (in the
    @file{default-install}) because UNIX doesn't accurately emulate the GNU
    administration programs.

    You will probably find it easier to just install Linux that to get this
    running on Windows. If you do want to get it running on other operating
    systems and provide clean patches, then I will be supportive and
    helpful, but please note that I think most of the portability problems
    will be with the underlying Perl modules and CDB related stuff.

References

    the section on "/scotclimb.org.uk/software/linkcont/" in the http:
    manpage - download LinkController

    the section on "/www.linux.org/" in the http: manpage - Get Linux

    the section on "/www.redhat.com/" in the http: manpage - RedHat Linux -
    tested version

    the section on "/www.debian.org/" in the http: manpage - Debian Linux.

