[TriLUG] Perl modules and RPMs

[Mike Broome]

In a discussion on another linux list about using rpm for managing
installed packages, somebody made the following comment:

  When have a package manager (like rpm, deb,...) you need to use it
  _always_, for _everything_ you install. The moment you install one
  piece of software without using the manager, the package manager
  becomes useless!

I more-or-less agree with that (except for a few minor things I install
in /usr/local).

The question I have is what to do about installing Perl modules.  I find
that as I write my own or want to download and install new Perl scrips,
there are often Perl modules that I'm missing and need to install.  The
way I've been addressing that is to download the module(s) from CPAN and
install, typically doing the following:
   perl Makefile.PL
   make test
   make install

Ideally, these modules should be known and managed by rpm.  Is there a
straightforward way to do that?  Do I need to hand-roll a spec file for
each one?  Or is there some standard way to create an rpm from a CPAN
module then install it?

Thanks,
Mike

-- 
Mike Broome
mbroome(at)employees.org