Updated: 28 September 2026 · Applies to: AlmaLinux 9 / Rocky Linux 9
RHEL/CentOS 7 are end of life; these steps are for AlmaLinux 9 / Rocky Linux 9. Installing CPAN modules as RPM packages keeps them under the control of dnf. First check whether the module is already packaged: dnf install 'perl(Module::Name)'. If not, build a package with cpanspec.
1. Install the tools
dnf install epel-release dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb dnf install cpanspec rpm-build rpmdevtools perl-generators gcc make rpmdev-setuptree # creates ~/rpmbuild (run as a normal user)
2. Create the spec file and build
cd ~/rpmbuild/SOURCES cpanspec --packager "Your Name <you@example.com>" Some::Module # downloads the source from CPAN and writes the spec mv perl-Some-Module.spec ../SPECS/ cd ../SPECS rpmbuild -ba perl-Some-Module.spec
If the build stops because of missing dependencies, install them (dnf builddep perl-Some-Module.spec) or build those modules first in the same way.
3. Install the package
dnf install ~/rpmbuild/RPMS/noarch/perl-Some-Module-*.rpm # or RPMS/x86_64 for modules with C code
Tip: Build packages as a normal user, never as root. Keep the spec files so you can rebuild when the module is updated.
