Problems with Perl modules on CentOS

RT Users
1

Dear List,

I have been running a few RT 3/4 systems on CentOS 5/6 for the last 3
years and have had many issues maintaining them.

A lot of the required Perl modules used by RT are not provided by the
standard CentOS repositories (including EPEL and RPMForge), which means
they will get installed using CPAN.

Some of the modules from CPAN then requires newer versions of modules
that was installed by RPM. So in some situations I end up with a module
being managed by both CPAN and RPM (CPAN for the newest version, RPM
because of other RPM dependencies).

Everything usually ends up working somehow, but only until it is time to
update the server (yum update) or RT - which causes everything to break.

I have read the wiki about how other people handle RT on CentOS, but I
can’t see any guides who actually solves this problem.

Am I missing something? or should I just be using a different distribution?

Which distribution seems to work best with RT? - I’d like to completely
avoid installing stuff using CPAN.

Best Regards,
Johnny Carlsen
CONFIDENTIAL AND PRIVILEGED: This e-mail and associated content is subject to the disclaimer statement found at E-mail disclaimer - Aware Group.

2

From: Johnny Rose Carlsen johnny.c@aware.co.th
Dear List,

I have been running a few RT 3/4 systems on CentOS 5/6 for the last 3
years and have had many issues maintaining them.

A lot of the required Perl modules used by RT are not provided by the
standard CentOS repositories (including EPEL and RPMForge), which means
they will get installed using CPAN.

Some of the modules from CPAN then requires newer versions of modules
that was installed by RPM. So in some situations I end up with a module
being managed by both CPAN and RPM (CPAN for the newest version, RPM
because of other RPM dependencies).

Everything usually ends up working somehow, but only until it is time to
update the server (yum update) or RT - which causes everything to break.

I have read the wiki about how other people handle RT on CentOS, but I
can’t see any guides who actually solves this problem.

Am I missing something? or should I just be using a different distribution?

Which distribution seems to work best with RT? - I’d like to completely
avoid installing stuff using CPAN.

I run rt4 on centos. IMO the best way to handle it is to use CPAN in a
pre-production environment and have it install into a local user folder and
that tar up that folder and stuff it into production. The install only the
base perl modules for our distro using packages - all the RT specific stuff
is pulled in via CPAN. The reasons for this decision included:
-some modules need to be complied and as a matter of policy we don’t put
compilers on production boxes
-we run multiple vhosts and they might have different perl dependencies
-we could not find all the CPAN modules we needed packaged already

To go down this path you will have to set envs accordingly for httpd, any
cron-jobs, as well as any user accounts where you want to use the RT
command-line tools.

In the httpd conf for my rt4 vhost I have:

    SetEnv          PERL5LIB /srv/httpd/

example.com/perl/lib:/srv/httpd/example.com/perl/lib/perl5

    FastCgiServer

/srv/httpd/example.com/rt-4.0.2/sbin/rt-server.fcgi-processes 5
-idle-timeout 300 -initial-env PERL5LIB=/srv/httpd/
example.com/perl/lib:/srv/httpd/example.com/perl/lib/perl5

In the crontab for the user that runs rt cron jobs (e.g.rt-email-digest)
one of the first lines is:
PERL5LIB=/srv/httpd/
example.com/perl/lib:/srv/httpd/example.com/perl/lib/perl5

In the env for any user that wants to run rt tools (like rt and
rt-shredder):
PERL5LIB=/srv/httpd/
example.com/perl/lib:/srv/httpd/example.com/perl/lib/perl5

You will have to configure CPAN to install into the private dir - see
http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=630026

cheers
ram

3

I have read the wiki about how other people handle RT on CentOS, but I
can’t see any guides who actually solves this problem.

We recommend using an isolated perl (that is, not the system perl) for
RT. This keeps RT’s deps separate from the system’s and ensures neither
break when updates are applied. This is especially true on CentOS and
RHEL which package certain Perl libraries with features removed, thus
breaking RT. It’s really straightforward to get an isolated perl via
perlbrew (http://perlbrew.pl) these days, and combined with cpanm
(http://cpanmin.us) you can install the RT deps quickly and easily.

4

I have read the wiki about how other people handle RT on CentOS, but I
can’t see any guides who actually solves this problem.

We recommend using an isolated perl (that is, not the system perl) for
RT. This keeps RT’s deps separate from the system’s and ensures neither
break when updates are applied. This is especially true on CentOS and
RHEL which package certain Perl libraries with features removed, thus
breaking RT. It’s really straightforward to get an isolated perl via

In that context, We are suppose to pick a linux distro for our new RT. Any
recommendation?

perlbrew (http://perlbrew.pl) these days, and combined with cpanm
(http://cpanmin.us) you can install the RT deps quickly and easily.

Asif Iqbal
PGP Key: 0xE62693C5 KeyServer: pgp.mit.edu
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?

5

Perhaps I’m biased being the maintainer but all you have to do for
SuSE is add the devel:languages:perl repo followed by “zypper in
request-tracker” and you’ll be ready to rock with request tracker. Oh,
and if you use puppet try the “darin-rt” module too :wink:

6

Perhaps I’m biased being the maintainer but all you have to do for
SuSE is add the devel:languages:perl repo followed by “zypper in
request-tracker” and you’ll be ready to rock with request tracker. Oh,
and if you use puppet try the “darin-rt” module too :wink:

In that context, We are suppose to pick a linux distro for our new RT.
Any
recommendation?

I do remember seeing that module. I will give it a try on vagrant first.
Thanks

Asif Iqbal
PGP Key: 0xE62693C5 KeyServer: pgp.mit.edu
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?

7

I have read the wiki about how other people handle RT on CentOS, but I
can’t see any guides who actually solves this problem.

We recommend using an isolated perl (that is, not the system perl) for
RT. This keeps RT’s deps separate from the system’s and ensures neither
break when updates are applied. This is especially true on CentOS and
RHEL which package certain Perl libraries with features removed, thus
breaking RT. It’s really straightforward to get an isolated perl via

In that context, We are suppose to pick a linux distro for our new RT. Any
recommendation?

Dominic does a lot of work to keep .deb packages up to date.

perlbrew (http://perlbrew.pl) these days, and combined with cpanm
(http://cpanmin.us) you can install the RT deps quickly and easily.

–
Asif Iqbal
PGP Key: 0xE62693C5 KeyServer: pgp.mit.edu
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?

Best regards, Ruslan.

8

I have read the wiki about how other people handle RT on CentOS, but I
can’t see any guides who actually solves this problem.

We recommend using an isolated perl (that is, not the system perl) for
RT. This keeps RT’s deps separate from the system’s and ensures neither
break when updates are applied. This is especially true on CentOS and
RHEL which package certain Perl libraries with features removed, thus
breaking RT. It’s really straightforward to get an isolated perl via

In that context, We are suppose to pick a linux distro for our new RT.
Any recommendation?

Dominic does a lot of work to keep .deb packages up to date.

That is a good news. Since I was leaning towards precise64.

Thanks

perlbrew (http://perlbrew.pl) these days, and combined with cpanm
(http://cpanmin.us) you can install the RT deps quickly and easily.

–
Asif Iqbal
PGP Key: 0xE62693C5 KeyServer: pgp.mit.edu
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?

–
Best regards, Ruslan.

Asif Iqbal
PGP Key: 0xE62693C5 KeyServer: pgp.mit.edu
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?