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Fixing CPAN make path in Mac OS X Tiger (posted: 2-16-06 3:57 PM)
If you're running CPAN in Mac OS X, you might see errors such as the following whenever you try to install a cpan module:
Writing Makefile for [cpan_module_name]
-- NOT OK
Running make test
Can't test without successful make
Running make install
make had returned bad status, install seems impossible
As confusing as this error message might seem, it is usually the result of a very simle problem: your CPAN configuration file might not know where the 'make' program is. To fix this, open up your CPAN config file, located in '/System/Library/Perl/5.x.x/CPAN/Config.pm' (depending on your version and configuration, this config file can also be located in '/Users/yourUserName/.cpan/CPAN/MyConfig.pm') and look for the 'make' line, which might look like this:
'make' => q[],
If your line is missing the path to the make program (like the example above is), then add it, so it looks as follows:
'make' => q[/usr/bin/make],
You can find the correct path for your system by running 'which make.'
