Crypt::HSXKPasswd on MacOS (File::HomeDir workaround)

Due to a problem with the File::HomeDir Perl module on recent versions of MacOS, the usual one-step instructions for installing Crypt::HSXKPasswd from CPAN don’t work on Macs ATM (June 2019).

TL;DR

sudo cpan -f -I File::HomeDir
sudo cpan Crypt::HSXKPasswd

The hsxkpasswd terminal command that ships with Crypt::HSXKPasswd uses the File::HomeDir module to locate .hsxkpasswdrc files. The aspects of this module used by Crypt::HSXKPasswd appear to still work, but the module fails some tests while installing, so a force-install is needed.

Because Crypt::HSXKPasswd specifies File::HomeDir as a dependency, and because File::HomeDir fails tests on MacOS ATM, installing the module as part of the installation of Crypt::HSXKPasswd will cause the installation of Crypt::HSXKPasswd to fail.

The easiest way to get around these problems is to force-install File::HomeDir before installing Crypt::HSXKPasswd. This can be done with the -i and -f flags to the cpan command:

sudo cpan -f -I File::HomeDir

With File::HomeDir now installed, Crypt::HSXKPasswd will install with the usual simple CPAN command:

sudo cpan Crypt::HSXKPasswd