wwwupdate.pl -- Automated WWW::Search backend updater
perl wwwupdate.pl
That's it, no command line arguments.
wwwupdate.pl is a simple perl script to aid in keeping WWW::Search backends updated as well as the core modules (Search.pm, etc.) without having to manually do so through CPAN or other means. Frankly, CPAN is not ideal for WWW::Search mainteance because of the frequency of requiring new individule modules (at least not for the author). I always end up having to manually copy backends or be aware when a backend is available and go through the CPAN commands to retrieve. So, I wrote this to relieve my pain and suffering in keeping my backends up to date without any effort on my part :)
Essentially, unless there is a NEW backend, one never has to theoritically ever have to download WWW::Search again since this will keep it entirely up to date even when there is a new Search.pm.
What I would do is cron this script to run at least once daily or more depending on how critical it is for you maintain working backends. Windows users can use taskmanager under NT/Win98 for this or some other task scheduler. You can also just run it manually from a command line.
The script will update all WWW::Search directories found on the disk. For those who have stray copies of WWW::Search on their drive that is not doing anything like in the .cpan build directory, should remove them to prevent the script from attempting to update backends found there.
Win32 users should beaware that ActiveState copies the backends with READ ONLY attributes. If you are running ActiveState you should make sure the READ ONLY is removed from the backends or this script will be useless.
To test the script to make sure it works okay on your system you can open say Excite.pm with a text editor and lower the $VERSION #.## and execute the script. If it is working as designed you will see a STDOUT message indicating Excite.pm has been updated with a more recent version.
wwwupdate.pl was written entierly by Jim Smyser <<jsmyser@bigfoot.com><gt>.
THIS SCRIPT SHOULD BE CONSIDERED BETA
Being a first release and the fact I was not sure from the beginning how this should be coded, and no feedback yet on how it will function on different systems, there may will be room for modifications. I only been able to test this under Win98 and RedHat. Improvement suggestions are welcomed.
version 1.02 is a first public release.
To install wwwupdate.pl, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm
cpanm wwwupdate.pl
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell install wwwupdate.pl
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.