Problem with CPAN and tar file headers

Hi Folks

Running CPAN from the command line (strawberry Perl), I often get a
error, as below, with tar file headers.

Any ideas?

(1)
C:\temp>perl -MCPAN -e "install SVN::Web"
....
New CPAN.pm version (v1.9102) available.
[Currently running version is v1.8801]

(2)
C:\temp>perl -MCPAN -e "install CPAN"
CPAN: File::HomeDir loaded ok
CPAN: Storable loaded ok
Going to read C:\DOCUME~1\Ron\LOCALS~1\Temp\cpan\Metadata
Database was generated on Wed, 09 May 2007 12:11:29 GMT
Running install for module CPAN
Running make for A/AN/ANDK/CPAN-1.9102.tar.gz
CPAN: LWP::UserAgent loaded ok
Fetching with LWP:
http://cpan.mirrors.ilisys.com.au/authors/id/A/AN/ANDK/CPAN- 1.9102.tar.gz
CPAN: Digest::SHA loaded ok
Fetching with LWP:
http://cpan.mirrors.ilisys.com.au/authors/id/A/AN/ANDK/CHECK SUMS
Checksum for
C:\DOCUME~1\Ron\LOCALS~1\Temp\cpan\sources\authors\id\A\AN\A NDK\CPAN-1.9102.tar.gz
ok
Scanning cache C:\DOCUME~1\Ron\LOCALS~1\Temp\cpan\build for sizes
CPAN-1.9102/
CPAN-1.9102/t/
CPAN-1.9102/t/30shell.t
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/A/
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/A/AN/
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/A/AN/ANDK/
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/A/AN/ANDK/CPAN-Test-Dummy-Perl 5-Make-Failearly-1.02.tar.gz
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/A/AN/ANDK/patches/
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/A/AN/ANDK/patches/CHECKSUMS
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/A/AN/ANDK/CPAN-Test-Dummy-Perl 5-Make-1.05.tar.gz
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/A/AN/ANDK/CPAN-Test-Dummy-Perl 5-Make-Zip-1.03.zip
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/A/AN/ANDK/CHECKSUMS.2nd
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/A/AN/ANDK/CHECKSUMS
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/A/AN/ANDK/NotInChecksums-0.000 .tar.gz
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/A/AN/ANDK/CPAN-Test-Dummy-Perl 5-Build-1.03.tar.gz
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/A/AN/ANDK/CPAN-Test-Dummy-Perl 5-BuildOrMake-1.02.tar.gz
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/A/AN/ANDK/CPAN-Test-Dummy-Perl 5-Build-Fails-1.03.tar.gz
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/A/AN/ANDK/CPAN-Test-Dummy-Perl 5-Build-DepeFails-1.02.tar.gz
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/A/AN/ANDK/CPAN-Test-Dummy-Perl 5-Make-CircDepeOne-1.00.tar.gz
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/A/AN/ANDK/CPAN-Test-Dummy-Perl 5-Make-CircDepeThree-1.00.tar.gz
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/A/AN/ANDK/CPAN-Test-Dummy-Perl 5-Make-Expect-1.00.tar.gz
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/A/AN/ANDK/CPAN-Test-Dummy-Perl 5-Make-CircDepeTwo-1.00.tar.gz
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/A/AN/CHECKSUMS
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/A/CHECKSUMS
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/id/CHECKSUMS
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/authors/01mailrc.txt
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/modules/
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/modules/02packages.details.txt
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/modules/03modlist.data
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/CpanTestDummies-1.55.pm
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/TestPatch.txt
CPAN-1.9102/t/CPAN/TestMirroredBy
/usr/bin/tar: Skipping to next header
/usr/bin/tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
Uncompressed
C:\DOCUME~1\Ron\LOCALS~1\Temp\cpan\sources\authors\id\A\AN\A NDK\CPAN-1.9102.tar.gz
successfully
Using Tar:c:\msys\1.0\bin\tar.exe xvf "CPAN-1.9102.tar":
CPAN-1.9102/
CPAN-1.9102/t/
CPAN-1.9102/t/30shell.t
/usr/bin/tar: Skipping to next header
/usr/bin/tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
Couldn't untar CPAN-1.9102.tar

(3)
C:\temp>c:\msys\1.0\bin\tar --version
tar (GNU tar) 1.13.19
Copyright 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This program comes with NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
You may redistribute it under the terms of the GNU General Public License;
see the file named COPYING for details.
Written by John Gilmore and Jay Fenlason.

Re: Problem with CPAN and tar file headers

"Ron Savage" wrote in message
news:464ac708$1@quokka.wn.com.au...
> Hi Folks
>
> Running CPAN from the command line (strawberry Perl), I often get a error,
> as below, with tar file headers.
>
> Any ideas?
..
..
..
> Couldn't untar CPAN-1.9102.tar


I use Strawberry Perl from time to time (and have found it to be quite
good). And I have msys - probably the same version as you - at least the
version of tar is the same. But I've never used CPAN.pm ... which severely
limits the quality of help you'll get from me :-)

One thing I did find is that (for me) msys's gzip and tar are able to
decompress and untar CPAN-1.9102 without any trouble at all ... so it seems
that they are not to blame. (I used them from within the cmd.exe shell, not
the msys shell.)You might check, if you haven't already, that they also
perform correctly for you when used manually.

One thing that does puzzle me is:

---------------------------------------
/usr/bin/tar: Skipping to next header
/usr/bin/tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
Uncompressed
C:\DOCUME~1\Ron\LOCALS~1\Temp\cpan\sources\authors\id\A\AN\A NDK\CPAN-1.9102.tar.gz successfully Using Tar:c:\msys\1.0\bin\tar.exe xvf "CPAN-1.9102.tar":---------------------------------------Fir st of all we see '/usr/bin/tar' (which is how the msys shell wouldaddress tar.exe), and then we see'c:\msys\1.0\bin\tar.exe' (which is how the cmd shell would addresstar.exe). I'm wondering how that msys shell nomenclature is getting there,and whether that has something to do with the problem.Presumably you're running all of this in the cmd.exe shell ? And the pathenvironment variable includes "C:\msys\1.0\bin" - which is how tar.exe isbeing found from within the cmd.exe shell ?The more I think about it, the more baffling '/usr/bin/tar' becomes.At http://win32.perl.org/wiki/index.php?title=Strawberry_Perl in the"Description" section, it states that Strawberry Perl includes (among otherthings) "Bundle::CPAN (including Perl modules that largely eliminate theneed for external helper programs like gzip and tar) " .... so I'm thinkingthat perhaps one solution might be to *not* use those gzip and tar helperprograms, but to instead use whatever it is that Strawberry Perl developersenvisaged people would use. (Of course that doesn't answer your question).I do know that use of msys utilities was not anticipated - by the same tokenI can't really think of any reason that they shouldn't be used - I use themoften.If the problem you've described affects only the building of CPAN then Iguess you could just bite the bullett and build and install CPAN the ol'fashioned manual way. (That doesn't answer your question either.)Cheers,Rob

Re: Problem with CPAN and tar file headers

Same as my last post - only I hope it appears in a better format.

"Ron Savage" wrote in message
news:464ac708$1@quokka.wn.com.au...
> Hi Folks
>
> Running CPAN from the command line (strawberry Perl), I often get a error,
> as below, with tar file headers.
>
> Any ideas?
..
..
..
> Couldn't untar CPAN-1.9102.tar


I use Strawberry Perl from time to time (and have found it to be quite
good). And I have msys - probably the same version as you - at least the
version of tar is the same. But I've never used CPAN.pm ... which severely
limits the quality of help you'll get from me :-)

One thing I did find is that (for me) msys's gzip and tar are able to
decompress and untar CPAN-1.9102 without any trouble at all ... so it seems
that they are not to blame. (I used them from within the cmd.exe shell, not
the msys shell.)You might check, if you haven't already, that they also
perform correctly for you when used manually.

One thing that does puzzle me is

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
/usr/bin/tar: Skipping to next header
/usr/bin/tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
Uncompressed
C:\DOCUME~1\Ron\LOCALS~1\Temp\cpan\sources\authors\id\A\AN\A NDK\CPAN-1.9102.tar.gz
successfully
Using Tar:c:\msys\1.0\bin\tar.exe xvf "CPAN-1.9102.tar"
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

First of all we see '/usr/bin/tar' (which is how the msys shell would
address tar.exe), and then we see'c:\msys\1.0\bin\tar.exe' (which is how
the cmd shell would address tar.exe). I'm wondering how that msys shell
nomenclature is getting there,and whether that has something to do with the
problem.

Presumably you're running all of this in the cmd.exe shell ? And the path
environment variable includes "C:\msys\1.0\bin" - which is how tar.exe is
being found from within the cmd.exe shell ?

The more I think about it, the more baffling '/usr/bin/tar' becomes.

At http://win32.perl.org/wiki/index.php?title=Strawberry_Perl in
the"Description" section, it states that Strawberry Perl includes (among
otherthings) "Bundle::CPAN (including Perl modules that largely eliminate
theneed for external helper programs like gzip and tar) " .... so I'm
thinkingthat perhaps one solution might be to *not* use those gzip
and tar helper programs, but to instead use whatever it is that Strawberry
Perl developers envisaged people would use. (Of course that doesn't answer
your question). I do know that use of msys utilities was not anticipated -
by the same token I can't really think of any reason that they shouldn't be
used - I use them often.

If the problem you've described affects only the building of CPAN then I
guess you could just bite the bullett and build and install CPAN the ol'
fashioned manual way.
(That doesn't answer your question either.)

Cheers,Rob

Re: Problem with CPAN and tar file headers

Ron Savage schrieb:

> Hi Folks
>
> Running CPAN from the command line (strawberry Perl), I often get a
> error, as below, with tar file headers.
>
> Any ideas?

> Using Tar:c:\msys\1.0\bin\tar.exe xvf "CPAN-1.9102.tar":
> CPAN-1.9102/
> CPAN-1.9102/t/
> CPAN-1.9102/t/30shell.t
> /usr/bin/tar: Skipping to next header
> /usr/bin/tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
> Couldn't untar CPAN-1.9102.tar

Having experienced the same problem with ActivePerl and gnuwin32-port of
tar, i've decided some time ago to file this as a Heisenbug (it doesn't
reliably 'not work', i.e. sometimes it untars correctly, sometimes it
just bails out).

So, unfortunately i'm unable to offer a solution, but, IMHO, a
reasonable (and reliable) workaround:
in the CPAN shell, do:

o conf tar ptar
o conf commit

from perldoc ptar:
ptar is a small, tar look-alike program that uses the perl module
Archive::Tar to extract, create and list tar archives.

HTH,
Andreas Puerzer

--
Have Fun,
and if you can't have fun,
have someone else's fun.
The Beautiful South