CPAN

CPAN is an acronym standing for Comprehensive Perl Archive Network. It is a large archive of software written in perl and documentation for it. It has a presence on the internet at http://www.cpan.org/ and is mirrored[?] worldwide. CPAN modules serve as an extension library to perl, and cover a wide variety of problem spaces.

CPAN is also the name of a perl module that makes it easy to download, install, update, and maintain other perl modules which are archived on CPAN. It supports numerous download protocols, supports the use of firewall proxies, and does module dependency checking, and can meet any dependency requirements by automatically downloading and installing any additional modules if the user so chooses.

The name is styled after CTAN, the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network.