## Running perl programs on the shell {#ssec-perl-running}
When executing a Perl script, it is possible you get an error such as `./myscript.pl: bad interpreter: /usr/bin/perl: no such file or directory`. This happens when the script expects Perl to be installed at `/usr/bin/perl`, which is not the case when using Perl from nixpkgs. You can fix the script by changing the first line to:
```perl
#!/usr/bin/env perl
```
to take the Perl installation from the `PATH` environment variable, or invoke Perl directly with:
```ShellSession
$ perl ./myscript.pl
```
When the script is using a Perl library that is not installed globally, you might get an error such as `Can't locate DB_File.pm in @INC (you may need to install the DB_File module)`. In that case, you can use `nix-shell` to start an ad-hoc shell with that library installed, for instance:
If you are always using the script in places where `nix-shell` is available, you can embed the `nix-shell` invocation in the shebang like this:
```perl
#!/usr/bin/env nix-shell
#! nix-shell -i perl -p perl perlPackages.DBFile
```
## Packaging Perl programs {#ssec-perl-packaging}
Nixpkgs provides a function `buildPerlPackage`, a generic package builder function for any Perl package that has a standard `Makefile.PL`. It’s implemented in [pkgs/development/perl-modules/generic](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/development/perl-modules/generic).
Perl packages from CPAN are defined in [pkgs/top-level/perl-packages.nix](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/top-level/perl-packages.nix) rather than `pkgs/all-packages.nix`. Most Perl packages are so straight-forward to build that they are defined here directly, rather than having a separate function for each package called from `perl-packages.nix`. However, more complicated packages should be put in a separate file, typically in `pkgs/development/perl-modules`. Here is an example of the former:
Note the use of `mirror://cpan/`, and the `${name}` in the URL definition to ensure that the name attribute is consistent with the source that we’re actually downloading. Perl packages are made available in `all-packages.nix` through the variable `perlPackages`. For instance, if you have a package that needs `ClassC3`, you would typically write
```nix
foo = import ../path/to/foo.nix {
inherit stdenv fetchurl ...;
inherit (perlPackages) ClassC3;
};
```
in `all-packages.nix`. You can test building a Perl package as follows:
```ShellSession
$ nix-build -A perlPackages.ClassC3
```
`buildPerlPackage` adds `perl-` to the start of the name attribute, so the package above is actually called `perl-Class-C3-0.21`. So to install it, you can say:
```ShellSession
$ nix-env -i perl-Class-C3
```
(Of course you can also install using the attribute name: `nix-env -i -A perlPackages.ClassC3`.)
So what does `buildPerlPackage` do? It does the following:
1. In the configure phase, it calls `perl Makefile.PL` to generate a Makefile. You can set the variable `makeMakerFlags` to pass flags to `Makefile.PL`
2. It adds the contents of the `PERL5LIB` environment variable to `#! .../bin/perl` line of Perl scripts as `-Idir` flags. This ensures that a script can find its dependencies. (This can cause this shebang line to become too long for Darwin to handle; see the note below.)
3. In the fixup phase, it writes the propagated build inputs (`propagatedBuildInputs`) to the file `$out/nix-support/propagated-user-env-packages`. `nix-env` recursively installs all packages listed in this file when you install a package that has it. This ensures that a Perl package can find its dependencies.
`buildPerlPackage` is built on top of `stdenv`, so everything can be customised in the usual way. For instance, the `BerkeleyDB` module has a `preConfigure` hook to generate a configuration file used by `Makefile.PL`:
Dependencies on other Perl packages can be specified in the `buildInputs` and `propagatedBuildInputs` attributes. If something is exclusively a build-time dependency, use `buildInputs`; if it’s (also) a runtime dependency, use `propagatedBuildInputs`. For instance, this builds a Perl module that has runtime dependencies on a bunch of other modules:
On Darwin, if a script has too many `-Idir` flags in its first line (its “shebang line”), it will not run. This can be worked around by calling the `shortenPerlShebang` function from the `postInstall` phase:
This will remove the `-I` flags from the shebang line, rewrite them in the `use lib` form, and put them on the next line instead. This function can be given any number of Perl scripts as arguments; it will modify them in-place.
### Generation from CPAN {#ssec-generation-from-CPAN}
Nix expressions for Perl packages can be generated (almost) automatically from CPAN. This is done by the program `nix-generate-from-cpan`, which can be installed as follows:
```ShellSession
$ nix-env -i nix-generate-from-cpan
```
This program takes a Perl module name, looks it up on CPAN, fetches and unpacks the corresponding package, and prints a Nix expression on standard output. For example:
Nixpkgs has experimental support for cross-compiling Perl modules. In many cases, it will just work out of the box, even for modules with native extensions. Sometimes, however, the Makefile.PL for a module may (indirectly) import a native module. In that case, you will need to make a stub for that module that will satisfy the Makefile.PL and install it into `lib/perl5/site_perl/cross_perl/${perl.version}`. See the `postInstall` for `DBI` for an example.
