perl rpm for CentOS/RHEL 5 available or advice

Hello,

I've rolled my own perl, mod_perl, and Apache from source so far but
plan to use rpms going forward to make it easier to setup and maintain
multiple machines.

As I understand rpms, I can either use the stock rpms from CentOS or
create my own by getting the src.rpm, modifying the spec file, and then
using rpmbuild to create a new rpm. I'm not clear on the details on
this, but I'm sure I can figure it out using the documentation at rpm.org.

While the stock rpms from CentOS may be fine for Apache and mod_perl,
the stock perl is not optimal for running mod_perl since, for one, it
has threading turned on. (As I understand from reading this list.) Thus,
for perl I will have to create my own rpm.

Has anyone done this for CentOS/RHEL 5? I've searched for an perl rpm
without threading but haven't found one for CentOS. Any pitfalls I
should be aware of?

I'm planning to still use CPAN to install most perl modules once perl is
installed.

Thanks!

Take care,

Kurt Hansen

Re: perl rpm for CentOS/RHEL 5 available or advice

On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 9:48 AM, Kurt Hansen wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I've rolled my own perl, mod_perl, and Apache from source so far but plan to
> use rpms going forward to make it easier to setup and maintain multiple
> machines.
>
> As I understand rpms, I can either use the stock rpms from CentOS or create
> my own by getting the src.rpm, modifying the spec file, and then using
> rpmbuild to create a new rpm. I'm not clear on the details on this, but I'm
> sure I can figure it out using the documentation at rpm.org.
>
> While the stock rpms from CentOS may be fine for Apache and mod_perl, the
> stock perl is not optimal for running mod_perl since, for one, it has
> threading turned on. (As I understand from reading this list.) Thus, for
> perl I will have to create my own rpm.
>
> Has anyone done this for CentOS/RHEL 5? I've searched for an perl rpm
> without threading but haven't found one for CentOS. Any pitfalls I should be
> aware of?

I have taken on this dragon of building a perl rpm. I was able to
successfully make it happen, but I have some advice for you. Good
luck, and don't give up :)

Rolling a perl rpm is harder than it looks (at least the one I did).
I was creating a 5.8.8 rpm on 5.6.1 system perl, so maybe that made it
extra difficult.

You'll want to make this rpm install perl in a location other than
/usr/bin/perl - that adds more difficulty. Remember, you can't remove
the system perl because lots of other rpms depend upon it.

I'd suggest taking a SPEC file from the source rpms for your
distribution and start there. Start with trying to rebuild the
existing rpm for your system perl which is threaded, just to get
comfortable with the process. Then try introducing your own source
and changing the install location (that's where it really gets tricky,
but it isn't impossible). You won't need all the patch files which
come with the Centos/RHEL rpm.

> I'm planning to still use CPAN to install most perl modules once perl is
> installed.

Once you get the perl rpm rolled, I'd recommend looking at Ovid (the
package) on CPAN; it makes perl module rpms fairly painless.