How can I install a CPAN module into a local directory?

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From perlfaq8:

When you build modules, tell Perl where to install the modules.

For Makefile.PL-based distributions, use the INSTALL_BASE option when generating Makefiles:

perl Makefile.PL INSTALL_BASE=/mydir/perl

You can set this in your CPAN.pm configuration so modules automatically install in your private library directory when you use the CPAN.pm shell:

% cpan
cpan> o conf makepl_arg INSTALL_BASE=/mydir/perl
cpan> o conf commit

For Build.PL-based distributions, use the --install_base option:

perl Build.PL --install_base /mydir/perl

You can configure CPAN.pm to automatically use this option too:

% cpan
cpan> o conf mbuildpl_arg '--install_base /mydir/perl'
cpan> o conf commit

I had a similar problem, where I couldn't even install local::lib

I created an installer that installed the module somewhere relative to the .pl files

The install goes like:

perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=./modulos
make
make install

Then, in the .pl file that requires the module, which is in ./

use lib qw(./modulos/share/perl/5.8.8/); # You may need to change this path
use module::name;

The rest of the files (makefile.pl, module.pm, etc) require no changes.

You can call the .pl file with just

perl file.pl