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Kashif
Asked: 2012-04-05 09:57:08 +0800 CST

Why are all Linux commands broken after installing Perl?

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I installed perl using following command: 

curl -L http://xrl.us/installperlnix | bash

after that i run following command to create soft link 

ln -sf /usr/local/bin/perl /usr/bin/perl

now I'm trying to run commands like dir, mkdir, ll, rm, vi but nothing seems to be working for me. also when i try to login into my shell i get following msg at startup:

Last login: Wed Apr  4 21:50:12 2012 from x.y.z.ip
-bash: perl: command not found

please help.

Here is system detail: 

cat /proc/version
Linux version 2.6.18-274.18.1.el5.028stab098.1 (root@rhel5-build-x64) (gcc version 4.1.2 20080704 (Red Hat 4.1.2-46)) #1 SMP Sat Feb 11 15:30:41 MSK 2012

cat /etc/issue
CentOS 5.7 32 bit
Kernel \r on an \m

Don't know if perl was already installed or not. and now i can't check.

linux perl

2 Answers

  1. Perl was probably already installed, and who knows what that install script did to your environment to screw it up.

    Two lessons here:

    1. Never install software using the above "pipe to bash" method without first verifying that 1) the install works, 2) it won't mess things up, and 3) it doesn't do anything malicious.
    2. Always, always, always check to see if a package is provided either by default or by your distro's default package repository before going to a third party.

    You may be able to recover by fixing your ~/.bashrc file to a known-good state, but honestly, I'd recommend re-installing your OS and trying again.

    • 12
  2. Best Answer

    The error on login is from the following line being in your bashrc script:

    ~/perl5/perlbrew/etc/bashrc

    You can likely fix perl by deleting /usr/bin/perl as the install script didn't put it in /usr/local/bin/perl by default... not sure where the ln command was inspired from. You may have to consult your distro to fix Perl, not sure.

    The installation script for perlbrew is much longer than I'm willing to read through. If you're still having problems you're best bet is going to be wipe and restore from backup.

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