Bug 452898

All modules installed by CPAN (that which is not available from RPMs) still
reside in /usr/lib/.../site_perl, but the @INC no longer points there. Newly
installed modules from CPAN now go to /usr/local. This requires the system admin
to uninstall/reinstall all perl modules that came from CPAN, or to visit each
script and add a BEGIN {push (@INC,"original path")} 

CPAN script doesn't know about what was previously installed. If I install the
same packages, I get a fresh install rather than "Package::Name is up to date." 

My opinion is that the change is a good one, since CPAN packages will now
survive a re-install of the OS, but rolling this out in a YUM UPDATE without
warning is probably going to break lots of people's stuff, and PLEASE don't
slide this in quietly in RHEL.

(In reply to comment #0)
> This version has been compiled to default site_perl to /usr/local/perl5.
> perl-5.10.0-26.fc9.i386

Please note that the previous version was compiled with site_perl under
/usr/local on 64bit systems and under /usr on 32bit systems, as reported in bug
#448735.
The change to /usr/local was intentional and happened before Fedora 9.
Unfortunately, there was a typo which made it ineffective on 32bit systems. This
is why we got half of the systems one way and half of them the other way.

(In reply to comment #1)
> [...] rolling this out in a YUM UPDATE without
> warning is probably going to break lots of people's stuff,

As explained above, the staring position was unfortunate.  But the change was
even more so.  The /usr/lib/.../site_perl has to be added back, for
compatibility, at least on 32bit systems...
But even after that change, the CPAN script will be confused, as it won't know
about /usr/lib/.../site_perl.

> and PLEASE don't slide this in quietly in RHEL.

There is no danger this will creep in to a RHEL Erratum.

perl-5.10.0-29.fc9 has been submitted as an update for Fedora 9

I don't wish to seem ungreatful, but anyone who was affected has already made
the necessary adjustments. Please be sure to include /usr/local.../site_perl if
you've switched back to the original configuration so as to not break
installations again.

perl-5.10.0-29.fc9 has been pushed to the Fedora 9 testing repository.  If problems still persist, please make note of it in this bug report.
 If you want to test the update, you can install it with 
 su -c 'yum --enablerepo=updates-testing update perl'.  You can provide feedback for this update here: http://admin.fedoraproject.org/updates/F9/FEDORA-2008-5875

(In reply to comment #4)
> I don't wish to seem ungreatful, but anyone who was affected has already made
> the necessary adjustments. Please be sure to include /usr/local.../site_perl if
> you've switched back to the original configuration so as to not break
> installations again.

The main site dir is still /usr/local/lib.  The change appends an additional
/usr/lib/.. to the end of the @INC path.  The effect for those who switched
should thus be minimal.  But it should ease the setup for those who have not yet
consumed the previous update.

perl-5.10.0-30.fc9 has been pushed to the Fedora 9 stable repository.  If problems still persist, please make note of it in this bug report.