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NAME

plenv - perl binary manager

SYNOPSIS

plenv help

# list available perl versions
plenv install --list

# install perl5 binary
plenv install 5.16.2 -Dusethreads

# execute command on current perl
plenv exec ack

# change global default perl to 5.16.2
plenv global 5.16.2

# change local perl to 5.14.0
plenv local 5.14.0

# run this command after install cpan module, contains executable script.
plenv rehash

# install cpanm to current perl
plenv install-cpanm

# migrate modules(install all installed modules for 5.8.9 to 5.16.2 environment.)
plenv migrate-modules 5.8.9 5.16.2

# locate a program file in the plenv's path
plenv which cpanm

# display version
plenv --version

DESCRIPTION

Use plenv to pick a Perl version for your application and guarantee that your development environment matches production. Put plenv to work with Carton for painless Perl upgrades and bulletproof deployments.

plenv vs. perlbrew

Like perlbrew, plenv installs perls under your home directory and lets you install modules locally, and allows you to switch to arbitrary perl versions on your shell.

Unlike perlbrew, plenv is implemented in bash, and provides simple shell script wrappers (called "shims") for each perl executable files. It doesn't export any shell functions that switches PATH before running commands.

Unlike perlbrew, plenv allows you to set local perl version per directory, using .perl-version file.

Unlike perlbrew, plenv doesn't provide built-in local::lib integrations, but plenv-contrib implements use and lib commands for a replacement.

INSTALLATION

Compatibility note: plenv is incompatible with perlbrew. Please make sure to fully uninstall perlbrew and remove any references to it from your shell initialization files before installing plenv.

If you're on Mac OS X, consider installing with Homebrew.

Basic GitHub Checkout

This will get you going with the latest version of plenv and make it easy to fork and contribute any changes back upstream.

  1. Check out plenv into ~/.plenv.

    $ git clone https://github.com/tokuhirom/plenv.git ~/.plenv
  2. Add ~/.plenv/bin to your $PATH for access to the plenv command-line utility.

    $ echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.plenv/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bash_profile

    Ubuntu note: Modify your ~/.profile instead of ~/.bash_profile.

    Zsh note: Modify your ~/.zshrc file instead of ~/.bash_profile.

  3. Add plenv init to your shell to enable shims and autocompletion.

    $ echo 'eval "$(plenv init -)"' >> ~/.bash_profile

    Same as in previous step, use ~/.profile on Ubuntu.

    Zsh note: Use echo 'eval "$(plenv init - zsh)"' >> ~/.zshrc

  4. Restart your shell as a login shell so the path changes take effect. You can now begin using plenv.

    $ exec $SHELL -l
  5. Install perl-build, which provides a plenv install command that simplifies the process of installing new Perl versions.

    $ git clone https://github.com/tokuhirom/Perl-Build.git ~/.plenv/plugins/perl-build/
    $ plenv install 5.18.0
    

    As an alternative, you can download and compile Perl yourself into ~/.plenv/versions/.

  6. Rebuild the shim executables. You should do this any time you install a new Perl executable (for example, when installing a new Perl version, or when installing a cpanm that provides a command).

    $ plenv rehash
    

Upgrading

If you've installed plenv manually using git, you can upgrade your installation to the cutting-edge version at any time.

$ cd ~/.plenv
$ git pull

To use a specific release of plenv, check out the corresponding tag:

$ cd ~/.plenv
$ git fetch
$ git checkout 2.0.0

Installation Without Git

To install on a system without git, simply download the latest archive and unpack it to ~/.plenv. You will need to repeat this process to upgrade your installation.

$ wget -O plenv.tar.gz https://github.com/tokuhirom/plenv/archive/master.tar.gz
$ mkdir ~/.plenv
$ tar --directory=~/.plenv --strip-components=1 -zxvf plenv.tar.gz

Follow the remaining standard instructions starting at step 2 of Basic GitHub Checkout.

Plugins such as perl-build and plenv-contrib will need to be installed into ~/.plenv/plugins similarly.

$ wget -O perl-build.tar.gz https://github.com/tokuhirom/Perl-Build/archive/master.tar.gz
$ mkdir -p ~/.plenv/plugins/perl-build
$ tar --directory=~/.plenv/plugins/perl-build --strip-components=1 -zxvf perl-build.tar.gz

Homebrew on Mac OS X

You can also install plenv using the Homebrew package manager on Mac OS X.

$ brew update
$ brew install plenv
$ brew install perl-build

To later update these installs, use upgrade instead of install.

Afterwards you'll still need to add eval "$(plenv init -)" to your profile as stated in the caveats. You'll only ever have to do this once.

Neckbeard Configuration

Skip this section unless you must know what every line in your shell profile is doing.

plenv init is the only command that crosses the line of loading extra commands into your shell. Here's what plenv init actually does:

  1. Sets up your shims path. This is the only requirement for plenv to function properly. You can do this by hand by prepending ~/.plenv/shims to your $PATH.

  2. Installs autocompletion. This is entirely optional but pretty useful. Sourcing ~/.plenv/completions/plenv.bash will set that up. There is also a ~/.plenv/completions/plenv.zsh for Zsh users.

  3. Rehashes shims. From time to time you'll need to rebuild your shim files. Doing this automatically makes sure everything is up to date. You can always run plenv rehash manually.

  4. Installs the sh dispatcher. This bit is also optional, but allows plenv and plugins to change variables in your current shell, making commands like plenv shell possible. The sh dispatcher doesn't do anything crazy like override cd or hack your shell prompt, but if for some reason you need plenv to be a real script rather than a shell function, you can safely skip it.

Run plenv init - for yourself to see exactly what happens under the hood.

DEPENDENCIES

* Perl 5.8.1+
* bash
* curl(If you want to use plenv install-cpanm)

FreeBSD users

Mount fdescfs on /dev/fd for using bash. Please add following line to /etc/fstab and restart.

fdesc	/dev/fd		fdescfs		rw	0	0

Command Reference

Like git, the plenv command delegates to subcommands based on its first argument. The most common subcommands are:

plenv local

Sets a local application-specific perl version by writing the version name to a .perl-version file in the current directory. This version overrides the global version, and can be overridden itself by setting the PLENV_VERSION environment variable or with the plenv shell command.

$ plenv local 5.8.2

When run without a version number, plenv local reports the currently configured local version. You can also unset the local version:

$ plenv local --unset

Previous versions of plenv stored local version specifications in a file named .plenv-version. For backwards compatibility, plenv will read a local version specified in a .plenv-version file, but a .perl-version file in the same directory will take precedence.

plenv global

Sets the global version of perl to be used in all shells by writing the version name to the ~/.plenv/version file. This version can be overridden by an application-specific .perl-version file, or by setting the plenv_VERSION environment variable.

$ plenv global 5.8.2

The special version name system tells plenv to use the system perl (detected by searching your $PATH).

When run without a version number, plenv global reports the currently configured global version.

plenv shell

Sets a shell-specific perl version by setting the plenv_VERSION environment variable in your shell. This version overrides application-specific versions and the global version.

$ plenv shell 5.8.2

When run without a version number, plenv shell reports the current value of plenv_VERSION. You can also unset the shell version:

$ plenv shell --unset

Note that you'll need plenv's shell integration enabled (step 3 of the installation instructions) in order to use this command. If you prefer not to use shell integration, you may simply set the PLENV_VERSION variable yourself:

$ export PLENV_VERSION=5.8.2

plenv versions

Lists all perl versions known to plenv, and shows an asterisk next to the currently active version.

$ plenv versions
  system
  5.12.0
  5.14.0
  5.16.1
  5.16.2
  5.17.11
  5.17.7
  5.17.8
  5.18.0
  5.18.0-RC3
  5.18.0-RC4
* 5.19.0 (set by /home/tokuhirom/.plenv/version)
  5.6.2
  5.8.1
  5.8.2
  5.8.3
  5.8.5
  5.8.9

plenv version

Displays the currently active perl version, along with information on how it was set.

$ plenv version
5.19.0 (set by /home/tokuhirom/.plenv/version)

plenv rehash

Installs shims for all perl executables known to plenv (i.e., ~/.plenv/versions/*/bin/*). Run this command after you install a new version of perl, or install a cpanm that provides commands.

$ plenv rehash

plenv which

Displays the full path to the executable that plenv will invoke when you run the given command.

$ plenv which cpanm
/home/tokuhirom/.plenv/versions/5.19.0/bin/cpanm

plenv whence

Lists all perl versions with the given command installed.

$ plenv whence plackup
5.17.11
5.17.7
5.18.0
5.18.0-RC4
5.19.0

FAQ

  • How can I install cpanm?

    Try using the following command:

      % plenv install-cpanm
    

    This command installs cpanm in the current environment.

    If you are installing via a proxy and encounter problems you can set curl arguments via PLENV_INSTALL_CPANM (default is -p):

      % PLENV_INSTALL_CPANM="-v" plenv install-cpanm
    
  • How can I install the modules I used in another Perl environment in my new one?

    You can use the migrate-modules subcommand.

      % plenv migrate-modules 5.8.2 5.16.2
    

    It makes a list of the installed modules in 5.8.2, and installs the newest versions of those modules to the 5.16.2 environment. Note that because the module version won't necessarily be the same between the two versions, there may be changes that affect compatibility, dependencies, or other behaviors your applications depend on.

    You can reuse installed modules from a binary-compatible perl version directly without reinstalling. For example, if you have installed lots of modules in 5.18.1 and install a variant of 5.18.1 with dtrace support, you might not want to migrate all those modules.

      % plenv install 5.18.1 -Dusedtrace --as 5.18.1-dtrace
      % plenv shell 5.18.1-dtrace
      % PERL5LIB=$(PLENV_VERSION=5.18.1 perl -e'print join ":",@INC') perl <command>
    
  • How can I enable -g option without slowing down binary?

    Use following command.

      % plenv install 5.16.2 -DDEBUGGING=-g
    
  • How can I uninstall plenv ?

    Remove plenv configuration lines(plenv init and PATH) from your shell start up configuration. And remove plenv directory as below.

      % rm -rf `plenv root`
    

BUG REPORTING

Plese use github issues: https://github.com/tokuhirom/plenv/.

AUTHOR

Tokuhiro Matsuno <tokuhirom AAJKLFJEF@ GMAIL COM>

SEE ALSO

App::perlbrew provides the same features. But plenv provides project local file: __ .perl-version __.

Most of part was inspired from rbenv.

LICENSE

plenv itself

Copyright (C) Tokuhiro Matsuno

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

rbenv

plenv uses rbenv code

(The MIT license)

Copyright (c) 2013 Sam Stephenson

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.