How to set and get PERL5LIB environment variable on Github Action

How to set and get PERL5LIB environment variables on Github Action.

Linux, Mac

      - name: Set PERL5LIB
        run: echo "PERL5LIB=$HOME/mylib/lib/perl5:$HOME/mylib/lib/perl5/$(perl -MConfig -e 'print $Config{archname}')" >> $GITHUB_ENV
      - name: Show PERL5LIB
        run: echo $PERL5LIB

An example:

name: linux-ubuntu-latest

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - '*'
    tags-ignore:
      - '*'
  pull_request:

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Perl version
        run: perl -V
      - name: Perl config
        run: perl -MConfig -MData::Dumper -e 'local $Data::Dumper::Sortkeys = 1;warn Dumper \%Config;'
      - name: Set PERL5LIB
        run: echo "PERL5LIB=$HOME/mylib/lib/perl5:$HOME/mylib/lib/perl5/$(perl -MConfig -e 'print $Config{archname}')" >> $GITHUB_ENV
      - name: Show PERL5LIB
        run: echo $PERL5LIB
      - name: Download cpanm
        run: perl -0777 -Mstrict -Mwarnings -MIO::Socket::INET -e 'my $socket = IO::Socket::INET->new(  Proto => qq(tcp),  PeerAddr => qq(cpanmin.us),  PeerPort => 80,) or die $!;print $socket join qq(\r\n),  qq(GET / HTTP/1.1),  qq(Connection:close),  qq(Host:cpanmin.us),  qq(\r\n);my $res = <$socket>;$res =~ s[^HTTP/1\.1 200 OK\r\n.*?\r\n\r\n][]s or die $res;open my $out, qq(>), qq(cpanm) or die $!;print $out $res'
      - name: cpanm installs dependent modules
        run: perl cpanm -v -n -L ~/mylib --installdeps . --configure-args="--meta"
      - run: perl Makefile.PL
      - run: make
      - run: make disttest

Windows/pwsh

      - name: Set PERL5LIB
        run: echo "PERL5LIB=$HOME/mylib/lib/perl5;$HOME/mylib/lib/perl5/$(perl -MConfig -e 'print $Config{archname}')" >> $env:GITHUB_ENV
      - name: Show PERL5LIB
        run: echo $env:PERL5LIB

An example:

name: windows-2019

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - '*'
    tags-ignore:
      - '*'
  pull_request:

jobs:
  perl:
    runs-on: windows-2019
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Perl version
        run: perl -V
      - name: Perl config
        run: perl -MConfig -MData::Dumper -e 'local $Data::Dumper::Sortkeys = 1;warn Dumper \%Config;'
      - name: Set PERL5LIB
        run: echo "PERL5LIB=$HOME/mylib/lib/perl5;$HOME/mylib/lib/perl5/$(perl -MConfig -e 'print $Config{archname}')" >> $env:GITHUB_ENV
      - name: Show PERL5LIB
        run: echo $env:PERL5LIB
      - name: Download cpanm
        run: perl -0777 -Mstrict -Mwarnings -MIO::Socket::INET -e 'my $socket = IO::Socket::INET->new(  Proto => qq(tcp),  PeerAddr => qq(cpanmin.us),  PeerPort => 80,) or die $!;print $socket join qq(\r\n),  qq(GET / HTTP/1.1),  qq(Connection:close),  qq(Host:cpanmin.us),  qq(\r\n);my $res = <$socket>;$res =~ s[^HTTP/1\.1 200 OK\r\n.*?\r\n\r\n][]s or die $res;open my $out, qq(>), qq(cpanm) or die $!;print $out $res'
      - name: cpanm installs dependent modules
        run: perl cpanm -v -n -L ~/mylib --installdeps . --configure-args="--meta"
      - run: perl Makefile.PL
      - run: gmake
      - run: gmake disttest

Note

Set a environment variable.

# Linux, Mac
echo "PERL5LIB=Foo" >> $GITHUB_ENV

# Linux, Mac
echo "PERL5LIB=Foo" >> $env:GITHUB_ENV

Get a environment variable.

# Linux, Mac
echo $PERL5LIB

# Windows
echo $env:PERL5LIB

This is needed to be shown at the next Crun

Path separator is : on Linux, Mac, ; on Windows.

For Beginners

PERL5LIB environment variable is the path that Perl search for modules.

Comments

[Gabor Szabo]

Why not use the env key?

[Yuki Kimoto - SPVM Author]

What is the env key?

Is it means the following?

${{ env.PERL5LIB }}

Or

env:

[Gabor Szabo]

the latter

[Yuki Kimoto - SPVM Author]

What is the env key?

The reason is PERL5LIB environment variable must be set dynamically using $Config{archname} in steps.

In this case, it looks like the syntax of bash or pwsh must be used.

---

About environment variables

docs.github.com/en/actions/learn-g...

Because environment variable interpolation is done after a workflow job is sent to a runner machine, you must use the appropriate syntax for the shell that's used on the runner. In this example, the workflow specifies ubuntu-latest. By default, Linux runners use the bash shell, so you must use the syntax $NAME. If the workflow specified a Windows runner, you would use the syntax for PowerShell, $env:NAME. For more information about shells, see "Workflow syntax for GitHub Actions."