Problem installing modules on redhat 9 - strange connection problem

[championsleeper]

Hi,
I am trying to install perl modules using CPAN and get some very
strange errors. Setting the scene:
- Running RH9
- Using perl 5.8.0
- I login as root
- the cpan archive is in /root/.cpan
- I can access the internet (using browser, links, dig)
When I attempt use of CPAN for installing modules the output [end]
shows that it cannot get information from the sites.

What is strange is that if I run the command:

/usr/bin/links -source
http://cpan.teleglobe.net/authors/01mailrc.txt.gz

then the file is downloaded.

When perl runs it as

sh -c "/usr/bin/links -source
http://cpan.teleglobe.net/authors/01mailrc.txt.gz" > <some_filename>

it does not work.

I'm a bit confused as regards where to go next. I'm not sure but think
it may be an o/s problem but cannot see anything which could be
preventing the communicaitons - even with firewall temporarily off.

I'm going to investigate more and will post any findings I have. Would
appreciate any advice or pointers people could offer.

SC


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[root@localhost CPAN]# perl -MCPAN -e shell

cpan shell -- CPAN exploration and modules installation (v1.61)
ReadLine support available (try 'install Bundle::CPAN')

cpan> o conf urllist
urllist
http://cpan.teleglobe.net/
Type 'o conf' to view configuration edit options


cpan> o conf urllist unshift http://cpan.teleglobe.net/

cpan> o conf urllist push http://cpan.teleglobe.net

cpan> install Bundle::CPAN
CPAN: Storable loaded ok
CPAN: LWP::UserAgent loaded ok
Fetching with LWP:
http://cpan.teleglobe.net/authors/01mailrc.txt.gz
LWP failed with code[404] message[Not Found]
Fetching with LWP:
http://cpan.teleglobe.net/authors/01mailrc.txt.gz
LWP failed with code[404] message[Not Found]
Fetching with LWP:
http://cpan.teleglobe.net/authors/01mailrc.txt.gz
LWP failed with code[404] message[Not Found]

Trying with "/usr/bin/links -source" to get
http://cpan.teleglobe.net/authors/01mailrc.txt.gz
Receive timeout

System call "/usr/bin/links -source
"http://cpan.teleglobe.net/authors/01mailrc.txt.gz" >
/root/.cpan/sources/authors/01mailrc.txt"
returned status 1 (wstat 256)
Warning: expected file [/root/.cpan/sources/authors/01mailrc.txt.gz]
doesn't exist

Trying with "/usr/bin/ncftpget" to get
http://cpan.teleglobe.net/authors/01mailrc.txt.gz
NcFTPGet 3.1.5

Usages:
ncftpget [flags] remote-host local-dir remote-path-names... (mode
1)
ncftpget -f login.cfg [flags] local-dir remote-path-names... (mode
2)
ncftpget [flags] ftp://url.style.host/path/name (mode
3)
ncftpget -c [flags] remote-host remote-path-name > stdout (mode 4)
ncftpget -c [flags] ftp://url.style.host/path/name > stdout (mode 5)
....
....
....

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