# Installling Perl Module DBI on Linux CentOS - Head exploding

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 17, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502 "2010-12-17T13:43:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502/21 "2010-12-18T01:14:03Z")

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> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#):
>
> I think part of the problem is, you are trying to do things that one wouldn’t expect a completely clueless noob to be doing, so there may not be a tutorial written for your level. I would try to find a friend or someone who understands UNIX better and have them help you. It will end up being much easier and going much faster than you trying to get help online.  
> There are some things I tell people to not even attempt to try by themselves, because it will take too much of their time than it’s worth. This might be one of them.

I only have one friend who is sufficiently clued to be a reliable resource, but he’s insanely busy, distracted, we’re not that close, so I reserve him for full on emergencies. This ain’t that. I can keep going if I fail to figure this out.

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502/22 "2010-12-18T01:19:33Z")

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> [@Kyrie\_Eleison](#):
>
> You’re going to have to worry about this - it is most likely on you. The DBD components are specific to the database systems with which you want to use the more general DBI interface. At some point, you will need to choose which systems you want to interface with and install the correct DBD modules. I don’t recall if any DBD drivers come with DBI by default; you may get lucky and get covered there, but I think most likely not.

There are a few that come with the DBI CPAN distribution by default (DBD::File and DBD::DBM, for example) but for connecting to any real RDBMS one will need to acquire the correct DBD::\* distribution from CPAN. That will almost always require a proper compiler environment since you’ll need to link against some client library (e.g. libmysqlclient).

This is why, unless you’re working with a locally built Perl and you’ve got gcc and the necessary libs installed, you want to use your OS’s package manager for installing these modules. Every major Linux distribution has pre-built binaries and widely-tested dependency trees for this stuff already built.

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**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502/23 "2010-12-18T01:25:39Z")

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> [@Stoid](#):
>
> No spare $$ or I would. ☹ Gotta scratch for free advice.

I’d do it for free, I do this stuff in my sleep. But you already promised to ignore me. Too bad for you I guess. Maybe someone else will ask a similar question soon and you can leech off of their answers.

I will tell you this much though: google is your friend. Thousands of people have asked and had answered the same question.

ETA - being the star porn purveyor that you are, maybe you can barter with someone?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502/24 "2010-12-18T01:38:59Z")

</div>

My porn is so specialized most people aren’t interested.

And I do google…that’s what’s so scary…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502/25 "2010-12-18T01:43:54Z")

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Jeepers! I’m thinking Yum is working:

> [@](#):
>
> -bash-3.2$ yum list  
> addons | 951 B 00:00  
> base | 2.1 kB 00:00  
> extras | 2.1 kB 00:00  
> updates | 1.9 kB 00:00  
> Excluding Packages from CentOS-5 - Addons  
> Finished  
> Excluding Packages from CentOS-5 - Base  
> Finished  
> Excluding Packages from CentOS-5 - Extras  
> Finished  
> Excluding Packages from CentOS-5 - Updates  
> Finished  
> Installed Packages  
> GConf2.x86\_64 2.14.0-9.el5 installed  
> MAKEDEV.x86\_64 3.23-1.2 installed  
> MySQL-python.x86\_64 1.2.1-1 installed  
> NetworkManager.i386 1:0.7.0-9.el5 installed  
> NetworkManager.x86\_64 1:0.7.0-9.el5 installed  
> NetworkManager-glib.i386 1:0.7.0-9.el5 installed  
> NetworkManager-glib.x86\_64 1:0.7.0-9.el5 installed  
> ORBit2.x86\_64 2.14.3-5.el5 installed  
> OpenIPMI.x86\_64 2.0.16-5.el5\_4.1 installed  
> OpenIPMI-libs.x86\_64 2.0.16-5.el5\_4.1 installed  
> PPWSE.x86\_64 1.1-cos5.build92091016.19 installed  
> SSHTerm.noarch 0.2.2-9.278624 installed  
> SysVinit.x86\_64 2.86-15.el5 installed  
> Xaw3d.x86\_64 1.5E-10.1 installed  
> acl.x86\_64 2.2.39-3.el5 installed  
> acpid.x86\_64 1.0.4-9.el5\_4.2 installed  
> alchemist.x86\_64 1.0.36-2.el5 installed  
> alsa-lib.x86\_64 1.0.17-1.el5 installed  
> alsa-utils.x86\_64 1.0.17-1.el5 installed  
> amtu.x86\_64 1.0.6-1.el5 installed  
> anacron.x86\_64 2.3-45.el5.centos installed  
> apr.i386 1.2.7-11.el5\_3.1 installed  
> apr.x86\_64 1.2.7-11.el5\_3.1 installed  
> apr-util.i386 1.2.7-7.el5\_3.2 installed  
> apr-util.x86\_64 1.2.7-7.el5\_3.2 installed  
> aspell.i386 12:0.60.3-7.1 installed  
> aspell.x86\_64 12:0.60.3-7.1 installed  
> aspell-en.x86\_64 50:6.0-2.1 installed  
> at.x86\_64 3.1.8-82.fc6 installed  
> at-spi.x86\_64 1.7.11-3.el5 installed  
> atk.i386 1.12.2-1.fc6 installed  
> atk.x86\_64 1.12.2-1.fc6 installed  
> attr.x86\_64 2.4.32-1.1 installed  
> audiofile.x86\_64 1:0.2.6-5 installed  
> audit.x86\_64 1.7.13-2.el5 installed  
> audit-libs.i386 1.7.13-2.el5 installed  
> audit-libs.x86\_64 1.7.13-2.el5 installed  
> audit-libs-python.x86\_64 1.7.13-2.el5 installed  
> authconfig.x86\_64 5.3.21-6.el5 installed  
> authconfig-gtk.x86\_64 5.3.21-6.el5 installed  
> autoconf.noarch 2.59-12 installed  
> autofs.x86\_64 1:5.0.1-0.rc2.131.el5\_4.1 installed  
> automake.noarch 1.9.6-2.1 installed  
> automake14.noarch 1.4p6-13 installed  
> automake15.noarch 1.5-16 installed  
> automake16.noarch 1.6.3-8 installed  
> automake17.noarch 1.7.9-7 installed  
> avahi.x86\_64 0.6.16-6.el5 installed  
> avahi-compat-libdns\_sd.x86\_64 0.6.16-6.el5 installed  
> avahi-glib.x86\_64 0.6.16-6.el5 installed  
> awstats.noarch 6.6-1.swsoft installed  
> basesystem.noarch 8.0-5.1.1.el5.centos installed  
> bash.x86\_64 3.2-24.el5 installed  
> bc.x86\_64 1.06-21 installed  
> bind.x86\_64 30:9.3.6-4.P1.el5\_4.2 installed  
> bind-chroot.x86\_64 30:9.3.6-4.P1.el5\_4.2 installed  
> bind-libs.x86\_64 30:9.3.6-4.P1.el5\_4.2 installed  
> bind-utils.x86\_64 30:9.3.6-4.P1.el5\_4.2 installed  
> binutils.x86\_64 2.17.50.0.6-12.el5 installed  
> bison.x86\_64 2.3-2.1 installed  
> bitmap-fonts.noarch 0.3-5.1.1 installed  
> bitstream-vera-fonts.noarch 1.10-7 installed  
> bluez-gnome.x86\_64 0.5-5.fc6 installed  
> bluez-hcidump.x86\_64 1.32-1 installed  
> bluez-libs.x86\_64 3.7-1.1 installed  
> bluez-utils.x86\_64 3.7-2.2.el5.centos installed  
> boost.x86\_64 1.33.1-10.el5 installed  
> busybox.x86\_64 1:1.2.0-7.el5.centos installed  
> byacc.x86\_64 1.9-29.2.2 installed  
> bzip2.x86\_64 1.0.3-4.el5\_2 installed  
> bzip2-devel.i386 1.0.3-4.el5\_2 installed  
> bzip2-devel.x86\_64 1.0.3-4.el5\_2 installed  
> bzip2-libs.i386 1.0.3-4.el5\_2 installed  
> bzip2-libs.x86\_64 1.0.3-4.el5\_2 installed  
> caching-nameserver.x86\_64 30:9.3.6-4.P1.el5\_4.2 installed  
> cadaver.x86\_64 0.22.3-4.el5 installed  
> cairo.i386 1.2.4-5.el5 installed  
> cairo.x86\_64 1.2.4-5.el5 installed  
> ccid.x86\_64 1.3.8-1.el5 installed  
> centos-release.x86\_64 10:5-4.el5.centos.1 installed  
> centos-release-notes.x86\_64 5.4-4 installed  
> checkpolicy.x86\_64 1.33.1-4.el5 installed  
> chkconfig.x86\_64 1.3.30.1-2 installed  
> chkfontpath.x86\_64 1.10.1-1.1 installed  
> compat-libstdc+±296.i386 2.96-138 installed  
> compat-libstdc+±33.i386 3.2.3-61 installed  
> compat-libstdc+±33.x86\_64 3.2.3-61 installed  
> comps-extras.noarch 11.1-1.1.el5.centos installed  
> conman.x86\_64 0.1.9.2-8.el5 installed  
> coolkey.i386 1.1.0-6.el5 installed  
> coolkey.x86\_64 1.1.0-6.el5 installed  
> coreutils.x86\_64 5.97-23.el5\_4.1 installed  
> courier-imap.x86\_64 3.0.8-cos5.build92091016.19 installed  
> cpio.x86\_64 2.6-23.el5 installed  
> cpp.x86\_64 4.1.2-46.el5\_4.2 installed  
> cpuspeed.x86\_64 1:1.2.1-8.el5 installed  
> cracklib.i386 2.8.9-3.3 installed  
> cracklib.x86\_64 2.8.9-3.3 installed  
> cracklib-dicts.x86\_64 2.8.9-3.3 installed  
> crash.x86\_64 4.0-8.9.1.el5.centos installed  
> crontabs.noarch 1.10-8 installed  
> cryptsetup-luks.i386 1.0.3-5.el5 installed  
> cryptsetup-luks.x86\_64 1.0.3-5.el5 installed  
> cs-gs.x86\_64 2.0.0-cos5.build92091016.19 installed  
> cscope.x86\_64 15.5-15.1.el5\_3.1 installed  
> ctags.x86\_64 5.6-1.1 installed  
> cups.x86\_64 1:1.3.7-11.el5\_4.5 installed  
> cups-libs.i386 1:1.3.7-11.el5\_4.5 installed  
> cups-libs.x86\_64 1:1.3.7-11.el5\_4.5 installed  
> curl.i386 7.15.5-2.1.el5\_3.5 installed  
> curl.x86\_64 7.15.5-2.1.el5\_3.5 installed  
> curl-devel.i386 7.15.5-2.1.el5\_3.5 installed  
> curl-devel.x86\_64 7.15.5-2.1.el5\_3.5 installed  
> cvs.x86\_64 1.11.22-7.el5 installed  
> cyrus-sasl.x86\_64 2.1.22-5.el5 installed  
> cyrus-sasl-devel.i386 2.1.22-5.el5 installed  
> cyrus-sasl-devel.x86\_64 2.1.22-5.el5 installed  
> cyrus-sasl-lib.i386 2.1.22-5.el5 installed  
> cyrus-sasl-lib.x86\_64 2.1.22-5.el5 installed  
> cyrus-sasl-plain.i386 2.1.22-5.el5 installed  
> cyrus-sasl-plain.x86\_64 2.1.22-5.el5 installed  
> db4.i386 4.3.29-10.el5 installed  
> db4.x86\_64 4.3.29-10.el5 installed  
> db4-devel.i386 4.3.29-10.el5 installed  
> db4-devel.x86\_64 4.3.29-10.el5 installed  
> db4-utils.x86\_64 4.3.29-10.el5 installed  
> dbus.x86\_64 1.1.2-12.el5\_4.1 installed  
> dbus-glib.i386 0.73-8.el5 installed  
> dbus-glib.x86\_64 0.73-8.el5 installed  
> dbus-libs.i386 1.1.2-12.el5\_4.1 installed  
> dbus-libs.x86\_64 1.1.2-12.el5\_4.1 installed  
> dbus-python.x86\_64 0.70-9.el5\_4 installed  
> desktop-file-utils.x86\_64 0.10-7 installed  
> dev86.x86\_64 0.16.17-2.2 installed  
> device-mapper.i386 1.02.32-1.el5 installed  
> device-mapper.x86\_64 1.02.32-1.el5 installed  
> device-mapper-event.x86\_64 1.02.32-1.el5 installed  
> device-mapper-multipath.x86\_64 0.4.7-30.el5\_4.4 installed  
> dhclient.x86\_64 12:3.0.5-21.el5\_4.1 installed  
> dhcpv6-client.x86\_64 1.0.10-17.el5 installed  
> diffstat.x86\_64 1.41-1.2.3.el5 installed  
> diffutils.x86\_64 2.8.1-15.2.3.el5 installed  
> distcache.x86\_64 1.4.5-14.1 installed  
> dmidecode.x86\_64 1:2.10-2.el5\_4 installed  
> dmraid.x86\_64 1.0.0.rc13-53.el5 installed  
> dmraid-events.x86\_64 1.0.0.rc13-53.el5 installed  
> dnsmasq.x86\_64 2.45-1.1.el5\_3 installed  
> docbook-dtds.noarch 1.0-30.1 installed  
> dogtail.noarch 0.6.1-2.el5 installed  
> dos2unix.x86\_64 3.1-27.2.el5 installed  
> dosfstools.x86\_64 2.11-7.el5 installed  
> doxygen.x86\_64 1:1.4.7-1.1 installed  
> drweb-base.i386 5.0.1-0 installed  
> drweb-bases.i386 5.0.1-0 installed  
> drweb-common.i386 5.0.1-0plesk installed  
> drweb-daemon.i386 5.0.1-0plesk installed  
> drweb-updater.i386 5.0.1-0plesk installed  
> dump.x86\_64 0.4b41-4.el5 installed  
> e2fsprogs.x86\_64 1.39-23.el5 installed  
> e2fsprogs-devel.x86\_64 1.39-23.el5 installed  
> e2fsprogs-libs.i386 1.39-23.el5 installed  
> e2fsprogs-libs.x86\_64 1.39-23.el5 installed  
> ecryptfs-utils.i386 75-5.el5 installed  
> ecryptfs-utils.x86\_64 75-5.el5 installed  
> ed.x86\_64 0.2-39.el5\_2 installed  
> eject.x86\_64 2.1.5-4.2.el5 installed  
> elfutils.x86\_64 0.137-3.el5 installed  
> elfutils-libelf.i386 0.137-3.el5 installed  
> elfutils-libelf.x86\_64 0.137-3.el5 installed  
> elfutils-libelf-devel.x86\_64 0.137-3.el5 installed

And screen after screen after screen after that!

well that’s good to know…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502/26 "2010-12-18T01:49:40Z")

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> [@Stoid](#):
>
> My porn is so specialized most people aren’t interested.
> 
> And I do google…that’s what’s so scary…

google better.

btw, not to burst your bubble because I like you and all, but be prepared that even if you get to the end of this, there might still be some weird stuff integrating with whatever application you have.

And don’t sell people short. Judging from the other thread, there could be some curiosity factor or collector factor. Or maybe someone can give a subscription as a gift to grampa or something.

Don’t assume that you don’t have something to barter and you would rather insult people by making them work for you for free when you do have something to offer to share that won’t cost you a damn thing.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502/27 "2010-12-18T01:51:01Z")

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> [@si\_blakely](#):
>
> If you are on Centos, get a handle on using _yum_ - it does make things much easier, and is generally reliable. And you can use yum to keep your system up to date and secure - _yum update_ is all you need.
> 
> Si

This is my hope… I did not sign up for this (handling my own server administration) knowingly, I was misled by the sales guy, and he knew be was misleading me because I put him through his paces bigtime before I would even think of committing to this and I was incredibly angry when I realized the position I’d been put in.

But then I decided to try and embrace the opportunity to learn, because I’m always more comfortable when I at least have some fundamental understanding of what’s going on - it bugs me to always have to ask others.

Dealing with Plesk was fine, and a very easy introduction to the mysteries of real server administration. But then I faced my first adventure with having to go in via shell and I started to sweat.

I’ve had to be rescued a little from getting a bit too adventurous, but I keep hearing that this really can be done without too much arcane knowledge… hope so. I like it when I make it work. Nice brain exercise.

So I’m off to see if Yum can be made to do this for me…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502/28 "2010-12-18T02:02:56Z")

</div>

Oy! Now I’m really wondering what the hell. I did yum list perl\* and got the word that some stuff is apparently installed after all???

> [@](#):
>
> [ul]  
> [li]perl- **DBD** -MySQL.x86\_64 3.0007-2.el5 installed[/li][li]perl- **DBD** -Pg.x86\_64 1.49-2.el5\_3.1 installed[/li][li]perl-\*\*DBI.\*\*x86\_64 1.52-2.el5 installed[/li][/ul]

Call me crazy but it looks like I do have DBI installed, version 1.52.2 - I don’t know if that’s sufficient.

Perhaps I should tell the application support people this and see what it is they want my system to have…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502/29 "2010-12-18T02:10:20Z")

</div>

> [@Stoid](#):
>
> Perhaps I should tell the application support people this and see what it is they want my system to have…

Funny, didn’t I predict that?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502/30 "2010-12-18T02:13:29Z")

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So this is what they wrote to me yesterday:

> [@](#):
>
> Per checking, it seems that the server doesn’t contain the plug in needed to support the cgi script. Also, your \*mod\_rewite is not enabled.
> 
> May I ask for you to contact your host and ask them to enable \*mod\_rewrite and seek their advise as to whether they meet the following minimum server requirements:
> 
> PERL 5.6 or later
> 
> - mod\_rewrite  
> MySQL 4.0 or later  
> Unix  
> DBI Module  
> The root directory of the domain that they want to install from has to be capable of running files of 755 permissions

I have personally verified, as far as I can tell:

My server is running perl version 5.8.8  
MySQL version 5.1  
the DBI module is installed, version 1.52.2  
according to the people who provide the server, mod\_rewrite is enabled.  
And I changed the permissions without complaint on the file so I assume that the directory was ok with it, but I know permissions can be very fussy.

I’m writing back to them with this, but any other thoughts of course are very welcome. (And if you want to trade a little more thoughtage for some vintage porn access, that’s certainly easy to arrange.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502/31 "2010-12-18T05:54:27Z")

</div>

> [@Stoid](#):
>
> So this is what they wrote to me yesterday:
> 
> I have personally verified, as far as I can tell:
> 
> My server is running perl version 5.8.8  
> MySQL version 5.1  
> the DBI module is installed, version 1.52.2  
> according to the people who provide the server, mod\_rewrite is enabled.  
> And I changed the permissions without complaint on the file so I assume that the directory was ok with it, but I know permissions can be very fussy.
> 
> I’m writing back to them with this, but any other thoughts of course are very welcome. (And if you want to trade a little more thoughtage for some vintage porn access, that’s certainly easy to arrange.)

The requirements they listed, version wise, are pretty old indeed, if you are NOT running that, get another ISP pronto, as they are stuck in 2006 or so.

Whether they set you up with mod-rewrite, and whether you have it available wherever you are installing the application under your server root directory are two different matters. Occasionally if I am really slinging around sites on a development server, I will mess this up. It used to take me a while to catch, now I recognize the symptoms when I do it.

I know you said you got the DBI module installed via yum, but you also got it at least partially installed via hand and/or cpan, right? Perl (and linux together) can be fussy about that.

Plus, I don’t know if you have gotten around to trying to install the application yet, but if/when you do, I advise putting it under its own directory, such as public\_html/appdirectory and not mixing it with anything else there now or that might be there later.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502/32 "2010-12-18T06:08:41Z")

</div>

> [@not\_alice](#):
>
> I know you said you got the DBI module installed via yum, but you also got it at least partially installed via hand and/or cpan, right? Perl (and linux together) can be fussy about that.

No, it was already there… I haven’t done anything except upload and unpack. When I did the listing commands given in this thread I discovered it was there:

> [@Stoid](#):
>
> Oy! Now I’m really wondering what the hell. I did yum list perl\* and got the word that some stuff is apparently installed after all???
> 
> Call me crazy but it looks like I do have DBI installed, version 1.52.2 - I don’t know if that’s sufficient.
> 
> Perhaps I should tell the application support people this and see what it is they want my system to have…

They had given me the list already, that’s why I was doing all this. I sent them an email telling them that i found everything as described, they asked me a few more “yes, of course i did that” questions, and now they are escalating.

I have a gift for ending up at 2nd and 3rd tier support.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502/33 "2010-12-18T06:15:05Z")

</div>

> [@Stoid](#):
>
> .
> 
> I have a gift for ending up at 2nd and 3rd tier support.

So what is the current problem exactly? You are trying to install the app but not succeeding? I can’t find where you described any attempt at that or what any errors were.

Can you share the name of the app?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502/34 "2010-12-18T06:16:08Z")

</div>

Just an interesting aside: we’ve had some discussion regarding my being understood and misunderstood…  
My post #28:

> [@Stoid](#):
>
> Oy! _Now I’m really wondering what the hell. I did yum list perl and got the word that some stuff is apparently installed after all???_\*
> 
> perl-DBD-MySQL.x86\_64 3.0007-2.el5 installed  
> perl-DBD-Pg.x86\_64 1.49-2.el5\_3.1 installed  
> perl-DBI.x86\_64 1.52-2.el5 installed
> 
> **Call me crazy but it looks like I do have DBI installed, version 1.52.2** - I don’t know if that’s sufficient.
> 
> Perhaps I should tell the application support people this and see what it is they want my system to have…

Your post #31:

> [@not\_alice](#):
>
> I **know you said you got the DBI module installed via yum, but you also got it at least partially installed via hand and/or cpan,** right? Perl (and linux together) can be fussy about that.

It’s downright freaky, I tell ya…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502/35 "2010-12-18T06:20:20Z")

</div>

> [@not\_alice](#):
>
> So what is the current problem exactly? You are trying to install the app but not succeeding? I can’t find where you described any attempt at that or what any errors were.
> 
> Can you share the name of the app?

Delavo.

Just trying to run the installing script, it doesn’t run. entering the URL with delavo.cgi should trigger all kinds of things that don’t happen, it just shows the script as text in the browser.

[http://theretroemporium.com/delavo.cgi](http://theretroemporium.com/delavo.cgi)

> [@](#):
>
> #!/usr/bin/perl
> 
> use strict ‘vars’;
> 
> use Archive::Zip qw( :ERROR\_CODES );  
> use DBI;  
> use IO::Handle;  
> use File::Copy;  
> use File::Find;  
> use File::Path;  
> use FindBin;  
> use LWP::UserAgent;  
> use POSIX qw/strftime/;
> 
> our ($Dir, $Name, $Virtual, %In);  
> our ($Language, %LangMessages);  
> our ($HeaderPrinted, $FooterPrinted);  
> our (@Profiles, %Cfg, @FormFields, @Actions);  
> our ($DB, %Tmp, $Log);
> 
> STDOUT-\>autoflush(1);  
> $| = 1;
> 
> # 
> 
> # special DIE processing
> 
> BEGIN  
> {  
> $SIG{ **DIE** } = sub  
> {  
> my $msg = shift;
> 
> ```
> warn($msg);
> 
> print "Pragma: no-cache
> 
> ```
> 
> Cache-control: no-cache  
> Content-type: text/plain
> 
> ";  
> print "DIED: $msg  
> ";
> 
> ```
> my $i = 0;
> while (my @trace = caller($i++))
> {
> printf("	%s:%s %s
> 
> ```
> 
> ", $trace[1], @trace[2,3]);  
> }

and so forth. What should be happening is various installation steps.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502/36 "2010-12-18T06:23:02Z")

</div>

I give 'em points for fast replies…

> [@](#):
>
> As per our tech team, assuming the delavo.cgi has 755 permissions - if the problem persists then the likely cause is that the hosting account does not allow cgi to be run from the httpdocs directory - this will have to be checked with your hosting company.
> 
> Please let us know what happens.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502/37 "2010-12-18T06:25:12Z")

</div>

> [@Stoid](#):
>
> Just an interesting aside: we’ve had some discussion regarding my being understood and misunderstood…  
> It’s downright freaky, I tell ya…

Not really. See your post #11 adn your general confusion about what to do at that point. We can only guess at how far you went in that process, But it wouldn’t change the output of yum.

Unsolicited advice: Don’t second guess someone who is trying to help you. I know it is your nature to do so, but you are the one with the fucked up system, not me.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502/38 "2010-12-18T06:32:26Z")

</div>

> [@Stoid](#):
>
> [http://theretroemporium.com/delavo.cgi](http://theretroemporium.com/delavo.cgi)

That is some shitty Perl code right there.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502/39 "2010-12-18T06:34:26Z")

</div>

> [@Stoid](#):
>
> I give 'em points for fast replies…

That is pretty standard with perl installs. Your ISP will be able to tell yhou where cgis can go. - you prbably have a cgi-bin directory. Or, you could try renaming the .cgi file as .pl and running it again just to see what happens.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installling-perl-module-dbi-on-linux-centos-head-exploding/564502/40 "2010-12-18T06:39:50Z")

</div>

> [@friedo](#):
>
> That is some shitty Perl code right there.

Wow yeah. it is pretty old-fashioned. it might be a throwaway install script though. Just the same, it is an illustration of what happens when you make a non-gpl product where there are tons of mature gpl scripts already in existence. You simply can’t take the best of the best and have to reinvent the wheel a lot.

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