Broken Perl

Hi Group,

I recently had a hacker gain access to my server.

As a result, my ISP insisted that I backup up my data and they then
re-installed Redhat 7.3.

So then I had the job to get everything back.

I started installing all the perl modules that I needed (like DBI,
DBD::MySql etc) but was getting frustrated because of all the
dependencies, and I needed my server back online ASAP. I have 100+
people every morning order their lunch using one of my websites.

So (I shouldn't have done this) I copied over from the backup the
entire usr/lib/perl5 directory replacing the nearly new perl 5.6
installation.

Since then I have had nothing but problems. For example, I cannot
install DBD::CSV for the life of me, even though when installing perl
reports that all the dependencies are there until the tests take place
- nearly all the tests fail - leaving not much to go on as to why.

So my question is this:

Should I remove perl 5.6 completely and start again installing each
perl module properly?

or

Is there a way to repair the messed up installation of perl I have now.

Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated!

UKDenners

Re: Broken Perl

"UKDenners" wrote:

> Should I remove perl 5.6 completely and start again installing each
> perl module properly?

And record each step in a script. Also, you can make your own distribution
containing all modules you require (how many could that be?), and install
that one the next time, and then run an update.

--
John Experienced Perl programmer: http://castleamber.com/

Perl help, tutorials, and examples: http://johnbokma.com/perl/

Re: Broken Perl

On 2006-10-29 17:37, UKDenners wrote:
> Hi Group,
>
> I recently had a hacker gain access to my server.
>
> As a result, my ISP insisted that I backup up my data and they then
> re-installed Redhat 7.3.

Redhat 7.3 is now at least 4 years old and has been officially
unsupported for more than 2 years. There is still some support done by
the Fedora Legacy project, but if a provider still installs RH 7.3, I
wouldn't rely on them to apply security patches from an officially
unrelated project. So there is some chance that the security hole that
allowed your hacker to enter is still present and probably a few others,
too.


> So then I had the job to get everything back.

Get your box properly secured before you start - otherwise you can start
over next week.


[...]
> Since then I have had nothing but problems. For example, I cannot
> install DBD::CSV for the life of me, even though when installing perl
> reports that all the dependencies are there until the tests take place
> - nearly all the tests fail - leaving not much to go on as to why.
>
> So my question is this:
>
> Should I remove perl 5.6 completely and start again installing each
> perl module properly?

It's certainly what I would do in this situation. Install a current
version of perl (i.e. 5.8.8) and then reinstall all the modules. If you
use mod_perl that probably means you have to reinstall Apache, too
(which you probably should anyway).

But note that sometimes perl and modules aren't upward-compatible: You
may have to change your code if you get everything to the newest
version.


> Is there a way to repair the messed up installation of perl I have now.

Probably. But analyzing what exactly you messed up is almost certainly
more work than starting from scratch.

hp


--
_ | Peter J. Holzer | > Wieso sollte man etwas erfinden was nicht
|_|_) | Sysadmin WSR | > ist?
| | | hjp@hjp.at | Was sonst wäre der Sinn des Erfindens?
__/ | http://www.hjp.at/ | -- P. Einstein u. V. Gringmuth in desd

Re: Broken Perl

The reason why I have stayed with 7.3 is that newer versions has
problems with Embperl

As a test I tried to install from scratch Fedora Core and all the
modules I required for my bespoke content management system to work.

The modules I need are

Embperl (with mod_perl)
Apache + Session, SessionX
Date-Calc
DBI
DBD-mysql
DBD-CSV

But it proved to be impossible (or I think I eventually gave up and
stuck with 7.3)

Chris

UKDenners wrote:
> Hi Group,
>
> I recently had a hacker gain access to my server.
>
> As a result, my ISP insisted that I backup up my data and they then
> re-installed Redhat 7.3.
>
> So then I had the job to get everything back.
>
> I started installing all the perl modules that I needed (like DBI,
> DBD::MySql etc) but was getting frustrated because of all the
> dependencies, and I needed my server back online ASAP. I have 100+
> people every morning order their lunch using one of my websites.
>
> So (I shouldn't have done this) I copied over from the backup the
> entire usr/lib/perl5 directory replacing the nearly new perl 5.6
> installation.
>
> Since then I have had nothing but problems. For example, I cannot
> install DBD::CSV for the life of me, even though when installing perl
> reports that all the dependencies are there until the tests take place
> - nearly all the tests fail - leaving not much to go on as to why.
>
> So my question is this:
>
> Should I remove perl 5.6 completely and start again installing each
> perl module properly?
>
> or
>
> Is there a way to repair the messed up installation of perl I have now.
>
> Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated!
>
> UKDenners

Re: Broken Perl

On 10/29/2006 11:37 AM, UKDenners wrote:
> Hi Group,
>
> I recently had a hacker gain access to my server.
>
> As a result, my ISP insisted that I backup up my data and they then
> re-installed Redhat 7.3.
>
> So then I had the job to get everything back.
>
> I started installing all the perl modules that I needed (like DBI,
> DBD::MySql etc) but was getting frustrated because of all the
> dependencies, and I needed my server back online ASAP. I have 100+
> people every morning order their lunch using one of my websites.
>
> So (I shouldn't have done this) I copied over from the backup the
> entire usr/lib/perl5 directory replacing the nearly new perl 5.6
> installation.
>
> Since then I have had nothing but problems. For example, I cannot
> install DBD::CSV for the life of me, even though when installing perl
> reports that all the dependencies are there until the tests take place
> - nearly all the tests fail - leaving not much to go on as to why.
>
> So my question is this:
>
> Should I remove perl 5.6 completely and start again installing each
> perl module properly?
>
> or
>
> Is there a way to repair the messed up installation of perl I have now.
>
> Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated!
>
> UKDenners
>

Caveat: I know nothing about Redhat 7.3.

Remove Perl 5.6 completely and install the perl modules properly. To
make installing the Perl modules easier the next time around, you might
consider installing through CPAN and using a bundle. I'm *way* outside
of my knowledge domain here, but I think that CPAN bundles allow you to
specify a group of modules to be installed together. You can probably
save the bundle during a backup and, should a reinstall be required in
the future, install the bundle.

Also, if you do remove Perl 5.6 completely, it might be a good idea to
install the latest stable version of Perl (5.8.8 ?). If you don't find
an RPM for that Perl version, you might look at installing ActiveState Perl.


HTH


--
paduille.4060.mumia.w@earthlink.net