kellyfelkins.org: installing atronscrobbler on windows using cygwin

installing atronscrobbler on windows using cygwin

I recently released atronscrobbler, a system that updates audioscrobbler with your audiotron play activity.

atronscrobbler is written in perl and needs to run on a unix-like system—both of which may be a problem for people running windows. Fortunately there is a free unix like system for windows, called cygwin.

Here are step-by-step instructions for installing cygwin, perl, and atronscrobbler. Good luck with these instructions and let me know if I can improve them in anyway. If you have suggestions that you want to share with everyone, just add a comment to this article. Or you can drop me an email.

installing cygwin with needed development packages and perl

create the c:\cygwin-setup folder
save setup.exe (found here) in the c:\cygwin-setup folder. If you are using the firefox browser, setup.exe will be saved on your desktop. Move it to c:\cygwin-setup
double-click on setup.exe in c:\cygwin-setup
On the Choose Installation Type screen in Cygwin Setup, choose “install from internet” (the default).
On the Choose Installation Directory screen in Cygwin Setup, use “c:\cygwin” (the default).
On the Select Local Package Directory screen in Cygwin Setup, use “c:\cygwin-setup” (the default).
On the Select Connection Type screen in Cygwin Setup, select the appropriate connection type—I always use “direct connection”.
On the Choose A Download Site screen in Cygwin Setup, ah, choose a download site. I’ve used various download sites, most recently ‘ftp://planetmirror.com’. I try to find one that is close to me, but that is not easy to figure out.
We are going to install 3 packages from the Select Packages screen in Cygwin Setup.
- Click on the plus sign next to Devel in the Category column. Scroll down the list and find the package named “gcc-core: C compiler”. Click on Skip, changing it to some version number. This means to install this package.
- Scroll down the list and find the package named “make: The GNU version of the ‘make’ utility”. Click on Skip, changing it to some version number.
- Now click on the plus sign next to Interpreters in the Category column. Scroll down the list and find the package named “perl: Larry Wall’s Practical Extracting and Report Language”. Click on Skip, changing it to some version number. This means to install this package.
Click ‘next’. setup will download and install the selected packages. This may take a while – be patient and enjoy the show.
On the Create Icons screen in Cygwin Setup, choose your favorite way to start a program—by double clicking on a desktop icon or by selecting from the start menu—or both. Click ‘finished’.

Welcome to the cygwin world.

You now have cygwin installed, with perl. That’s a big step. Take a breather. I always look for words of confirmation from loved ones with statements like ‘Honey. Guess what? I just installed cygwin.’

installing perl modules

Atronscrobbler needs an optional perl module, called LWP::UserAgent. Perl has a system for module management, which, in theory, makes it easy to install and update perl modules.
It actually does make it easy, but not as easy as you make like.

Start the cygwin console by either double clicking on the desktop icon or selecting cygwin console from the start menu. A console window should open. It may print some messages and then leave you at the $ prompt.
At the $ prompt, type perl -MCPAN -e shell. Please note the capitalization. This opens a perl shell and runs the CPAN module, which is perl’s system for installing optional modules.
At the Are you ready for manual configuration? question, enter no.
At the cpan> prompt, type install LWP::UserAgent.
It will ask if you want to install some sample programs. I said no to all 4 of these.
It finds some prerequisites and asks if you want to “prepend them to the queue?”. Say yes each time.
A bunch of messages are printed as CPAN downloads, installs, and tests each module. You should end up back at the cpan> prompt.
Type exit. This will end the CPAN program and bring you back to the $ prompt.

Welcome to the perl world.

You now have cygwin installed, with perl, including the LWP::UserAgent package. Cool.

installing atronscrobbler

Now, note your cygwin home directory by typing ‘pwd’ at the $ prompt. It could be /home/[your user name] or /cygdrive/c/Documents and Settings/[your user name]. Translate these into their window equivalent folders—”/home/[your user name]” is c:\cygwin\home\[your user name] and ”/cygdrive/c/Documents and Settings/[your user name]” is c:\Documents and Settings\[your user name].
download atronscrobbler.tar.gz and place it in your cygwin home directory folder. Note that your web browser may put it somewhere else, such as your desktop. If so, you need to move it to the appropriate folder.
Look for atronscrobbler.tar.gz in your cygwin home directory by typing ‘ls’ at the $ prompt. You should see it listed there.
Unpack it by typing tar xvzf atronscrobbler.tar.gz.
Copy the ”.atronscrobbler” file to your home directory by typeing
```
cp atronscobbler-v.1/.atronscrobbler .
```
Edit ”.atronscrobbler”, making appropriate changes.

Share this article on

* * *

Hey Uncle Kelly,
I’m having trouble with step four here. I get a message about it can’t open it, then the error is not recoverable, and it returns to its status 2 and error exit was delayed from previous errors. It looks like it has tried to change to tar(child), but it didn’t work, so it changes back to tar. Any way you can help? Thanks
— Scott Beasley Nov 2, 06:48 AM #
Ok, I miss pronounced the word in my head and typed it wrong. I fixed that now. Now I’m working on step five and having a little trouble. I’ll let you know if I figure it out.
— Scott Beasley Nov 2, 01:18 PM #