From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Dec 9 16:35:24 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D936E16A4CE for ; Tue, 9 Dec 2003 16:35:24 -0800 (PST) Received: from world.tonkinresolutions.com (233-123.adsl6.netlojix.net [207.71.233.123]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A658043D28 for ; Tue, 9 Dec 2003 16:35:21 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from nick@tonkinresolutions.com) Received: from 127.0.0.1 (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by injector.tonkinresolutions.com (Postfix) with SMTP id 573E4F84B; Wed, 10 Dec 2003 00:33:12 +0000 (GMT) Received: from teltron.tonkinresolutions.com (unknown [192.168.0.149]) by world.tonkinresolutions.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 709A0F848; Tue, 9 Dec 2003 16:33:11 -0800 (PST) To: Tony Jones References: <20031209062926.B3F56579@zebedee.tonyjones.com> Message-ID: From: Nick Tonkin Organization: Tonkin Resolutions Date: Tue, 09 Dec 2003 16:35:04 -0800 In-Reply-To: <20031209062926.B3F56579@zebedee.tonyjones.com> User-Agent: Opera7.23/FreeBSD M2 build 518 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.60 (1.212-2003-09-23-exp) on world.tonkinresolutions.com X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-3.9 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=2.60 X-Sanitizer: Advosys mail filter MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit cc: "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" Subject: Re: how to build Spamassassin X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 00:35:25 -0000 On Mon, 08 Dec 2003 22:29:26 -0800, Tony Jones wrote: [ snip ] > > So, this not working, I went and grabbed the sources for > Mail-SpamAssassin-2.60 > and figured I'd try building it manually. > > trying: perl -MCPAN -e shell (which is the INSTALL files recommended > way) > just generated lots of messages telling me to install Bundle::libnet ASAP > and when I did, it failed to install and seems to have messed up the perl > packages on my system. > > > So, two questions: > > 1) How can I reinstall perl 5.005_03 (make install from /usr/src) > 2) Once I have the perl restored, what is the best way to install > SpamAssassin > on 4.9 ? > > Thanks > > Tony (who hates perl) Hm, well, if you hate perl perhaps you should consider using a spam filtering package written in some other language! The problem with FreeBSD and perl is well documented . . . basically the FreebSD system has perl 5.005_03 which is a very old version nowadays, and many modules require 5.6.1 at least if not 5.8+. The simplest and easiest way to clear up these problems is to install a new perl from source, in a non-standard location, so it creates its own libraries from scratch. I recommend creating a user perl and installing everything under /home/perl. Then at the end just change the symlinks to /usr/bin/perl etc. Do _not_ try to install a new perl over the 5.005 version that FreeBSD has installed by default. FreeBSD creates non-standard library locations and you will have lots of problems. If you follow this advice you won't have any problem using CPAN to install libwww, Mail::SpamAssassin and all the other modules you need or currently use.perl and CPAN are _very_ reliable. If you upgrade your FreeBSD to 5.1 you will find that the stock perl is 5.6.1 and most stuff Just Works with it. The perl has also been separated from the base distribution and is now installed as a package (or port) so it doesn't break when you update it. On FreeBSD prior to 5.x I always built a new perl from source as I described, and then built all my applications from source too (including apache, mod_perl, mysql and a bunch of perl applications like SpanAssassin). I too have encountered the 'ports or bust' mentality and while it is good in theory it just doesn't work in practise where perl is concerned. And there's way too much stuff depends on perl (for me at least) for it to be flaky. Hope this helps, - nick -- ________________ Nick Tonkin {|8^)>