modperl is gone? -- SOLVED

[w trillich <will@pinncomp.net>]

i was fully prepared to whine about being in the dark on "how the hell
can you find the package to download when you just know about one
missing file?"

well, i solved it myself, so thought i'd share the process...
(i'll get to whine later about something else, i'm sure.)



i'd changed some stuff in the config files for apache, so i
wanted to reload the settings:
	# apachectl graceful
it whined about troubles, and suggested i try:
	# apachectl configtest
	Syntax error on line 100 of /etc/apache/httpd.conf:
	Cannot load /usr/lib/apache/1.3/mod_perl.so into server:
/usr/lib/apache/1.3/mod_perl.so: cannot open shared object file: No
such file or directory


WHAT? modperl is gone? how can apache even RUN without modperl? aaugh!
that's like a face without a skull! or a skull without a brain! or
a brain without a mind! or a mind without a purpose!

so i tried
	# apt-get --reinstall install modperl
	# apt-get --reinstall install mod_perl
	# apt-get --reinstall install mod-perl

but it didn't find any of those.
(i was shooting in the dark, can you tell?)


AHA.

here's how you find out what the bloomin' package names are...

	# dpkg -S modperl
	dpkg: *modperl* not found.

damn. seemed reasonable, but there are other permutations possible.
here i try "mod-perl" with a hyphen:

	# dpkg -S mod-perl
	libapache-mod-perl: /usr/share/doc/libapache-mod-perl/README.gz
	libapache-mod-perl: /usr/share/doc/libapache-mod-perl/examples/CVS/Template
[snip]

the mother lode! let's try one more permutation, just for giggles--this
time "mod_perl" with an underscore:

	# dpkg -S mod_perl
	libapache-mod-perl: /usr/share/man/man3/cgi_to_mod_perl.3pm.gz
	libapache-mod-perl: /usr/lib/perl5/5.005/i386-linux/mod_perl_method_handlers.pod
	libapache-mod-perl: /usr/lib/perl5/5.005/i386-linux/mod_perl.pod
[snip]

the father lode!

so now i know to ask for "libapache-mod-perl"...

	# apt-get install libapache-mod-perl
	Reading Package Lists... Done
	Building Dependency Tree... Done
	The following extra packages will be installed:
	  libhtml-parser-perl libmime-base64-perl liburi-perl libwww-perl
	The following NEW packages will be installed:
	  libapache-mod-perl libhtml-parser-perl libmime-base64-perl
liburi-perl libwww-perl
	0 packages upgraded, 5 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
	Need to get 0B/1056kB of archives. After unpacking 2971kB will be used.
	Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
	Selecting previously deselected package libmime-base64-perl.
	(Reading database ... 36058 files and directories currently installed.)
	Unpacking libmime-base64-perl (from
.../libmime-base64-perl_2.11-2_i386.deb) ...
	Selecting previously deselected package liburi-perl.
	Unpacking liburi-perl (from .../liburi-perl_1.04-2_all.deb) ...
	Selecting previously deselected package libhtml-parser-perl.
	Unpacking libhtml-parser-perl (from
.../libhtml-parser-perl_3.02-3_i386.deb) ...
	Selecting previously deselected package libwww-perl.
	Unpacking libwww-perl (from .../libwww-perl_5.47-1_all.deb) ...
	Selecting previously deselected package libapache-mod-perl.
	Unpacking libapache-mod-perl (from
.../libapache-mod-perl_1.21.20000309-1_i386.deb) ...
	Setting up libmime-base64-perl (2.11-2) ...
	Setting up liburi-perl (1.04-2) ...
	
	Setting up libhtml-parser-perl (3.02-3) ...
	
	Setting up libwww-perl (5.47-1) ...
	
	Setting up libapache-mod-perl (1.21.20000309-1) ...

so it also set-up other items that i needed, as well (just like it
says in the docs!) all of which i'd already downloaded. i know that
no downloading was necessary because it confirms that you really
wanna download before doing so, and it said
	Need to get 0B/1056kB of archives. After unpacking 2971kB will be used.
	Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
so i confirmed that i wanted to install, though no downloading was
needed. very cool.

that's how i got past the hurdle of missing crucial components.

--

now i just gotta figure out where the apache settings are that are
keeping all my cgi's from working.