Podcasting Hacks

Install Perl Modules

A number of hacks in this book use Perl scripts. This hack covers installing Perl, Perl modules, and Perl support in your web server.

Perl is a widely used scripting language that I use in this book to perform a variety of podcast-related tasks. Perl comes preinstalled on Mac OS X and Linux, and it’s easy to install on Windows.

If you have the time, it’s worth learning Perl. The language syntax can be a little confusing at first but becomes familiar quickly. A lot of the value of Perl comes from the CPAN library of modules (http://cpan.org/), which covers every conceivable need.

Perl Modules for Podcasting

Here are some helpful Perl modules that should interest podcasters:

MP3::Info

With MP3::Info your script can read and write the ID3 tags in MP3 files.

MP4::Info

This retrieves information from MP4 (AAC) format files.

Ogg::Vorbis::Header

This reads and writes information from an Ogg Vorbis file’s header.

LWP::Simple

This library allows you to fetch any URL with a single function call.

LWP::UserAgent

This is the more functional version ofLWP::Simple. With this module, you can simulate a web browser surfing to a site, logging in, getting cookies, making requests, and then leaving. You can automate any complex web task with LWP::UserAgent.

Net::SFTP

The SFTP module gives you access to the full SFTP secure file-transfer standard. You can log into SSH hosts, navigate around, and upload and download files using simple function calls.

Net::FTP

This is similar to the ...