[tlug] Non-standard Perl Module Locations

[Curt Sampson <cjs@example.com>]

I need some advice from folks with a fair amount of knowledge of perl
workings.

Here at Starling we have an build/install/test framework called QAM
(http://www.starling-software.com/en/qam.html) that we use for our
projects. A particular goal of it is to let us include sources for
things such as libraries, modules for scripting languages, and so on
within a project, and have the project build its own local copies of
these so that we don't have to worry about what is or isn't installed
(or what versions are installed) on development and production servers.
(Anybody who's ever seen an entire web application break due to someone
changing a system php.ini file setting will understand where I'm coming
from here.)

We're all set up for Ruby use already; you just make sure you, e.g.,

    require File.expand_path(__FILE__ + "/../../qam")

where the argument to expand_path is the release directory for this
particular installation of the project, and now you're all set up to
use the usual stuff under that release directory, release/lib/ruby/1.8,
release/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8, linking against shared libraries in
release/lib, etc. etc.

Now we need to do something similar with perl, and I'm wondering what
the standard structure for perl library directories is, and what the
best way is to tack the directories from our release dir (the structure
of which generally resembles /usr/local as much as possible) on to the
front of search paths and so on. For example, the ruby code is pretty
simple:

    d = QAM.dirs
    $LOAD_PATH.unshift(d.rubylib_sitearch)
    $LOAD_PATH.unshift(d.rubylib_site)
    $LOAD_PATH.unshift(d.rubylib_arch)
    $LOAD_PATH.unshift(d.rubylib)
    ENV['PATH'] = d.release('bin') + ':' + ENV['PATH']

where the QAM object is set up with a dirs method that returns a
dirs object that knows, among other things, about all of the various
locations of stuff under our release directory (e.g., d.rubylib is
/.../release/lib/ruby/1.8/).

Thoughts and opinions?

cjs
-- 
Curt Sampson       <cjs@example.com>        +81 90 7737 2974   
Mobile sites and software consulting: http://www.starling-software.com