By default perl CPAN is configured to use FTP mirrors instead of HTTP mirrors.

If your environment only allows HTTP out through http proxy service – this prevents installation of new perl CPAN modules over the internet. I have seen lot of companies they allow access to internet only through http/https proxy server.

In this configure I will show –

(i)how to configure CPAN to use HTTP mirrors instead of FTP.

(ii)how to configure CPAN to use a http proxy server to access HTTP mirrors over the Internet.

Part 1: Configure CPAN to use HTTP mirror instead FTP

i. invoke perl cpan command shell first

#perl –MCPAN –e shell

If you ran CPAN for the first time in a computer – the above command might ask you

“Are you ready for manual configuration? [yes]”

Enter no.

ii. Set your preferred CPAN HTTP mirror URL

#cpan> o conf urllist push http://www.perl.com/CPAN; you can enter your preferred CPAN mirror URL here.

iii. List and verify your newly entered http mirror

#cpan> o conf urllist       ; this should return the above http mirror URL

iv. Save the new configuration

#cpan> o conf commit

CPAN is ready to use HTTP instead of FTP.

Part 2: Configure CPAN to use a HTTP proxy server to access Internet

i. invoke perl CPAN command shell first

#perl –MCPAN –e shell

If you ran CPAN for the first time in a computer – the above command might ask you

“Are you ready for manual configuration? [yes]”

Enter no.

ii. Set your HTTP proxy server address, port and auth details

#cpan> o conf init /proxy/

Your ftp proxy?                                 ;nothing to enter here

Your http proxy?myproxy:8080                 ;enter your proxy server IP or hostname with port number

Your proxy user id?                         ; if your proxy use proxy_auth enter username

iii. Save your configuration

#cpan> o conf commit

Your CPAN should be ready to access HTTP mirrors via proxy!