Running Makefile.PL on a system without Module::AutoInstall:

$ /usr/bin/perl Makefile.PL INSTALLDIRS=vendor --default Can't locate Module/AutoInstall.pm in @INC (@INC contains: inc lib /usr/local/lib64/perl5/site_perl/5.10.0/x86_64-linux-thread-multi /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.10.0 /usr/lib64/perl5/vendor_perl/5.10.0/x86_64-linux-thread-multi /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.10.0 /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl /usr/lib64/perl5/5.10.0/x86_64-linux-thread-multi /usr/lib/perl5/5.10.0 /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl .) at inc/Module/Install/CheckOptional.pm line 8. BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at inc/Module/Install/CheckOptional.pm line 8. Compilation failed in require at inc/Module/Install.pm line 283. Warning: prerequisite Benchmark::Timer 0 not found. Warning: prerequisite Benchmark::Timer is required for speed tests 0 not found. Warning: prerequisite Date::Manip allows you to use complex date patterns for the -d option 0 not found. Warning: prerequisite Digest::MD5 reduces memory consumption for the -u (unique) option 0 not found. Checking if your kit is complete... Looks good Undefined subroutine &Module::AutoInstall::postamble called at Makefile.PL line 29.

Now if I copy AutoInstall.pm from the Module::Install 0.91 distribution into inc/Module/, it runs OK:

$ /usr/bin/perl Makefile.PL INSTALLDIRS=vendor --default

NOTE: The optional module Benchmark::Timer (version 0) is not installed. Benchmark::Timer is required for speed tests Checking if your kit is complete... Looks good Writing Makefile for grepmail + /usr/bin/make -j3 cp grepmail blib/script/grepmail /usr/bin/perl "-Iinc" "-MExtUtils::MY" -e "MY->fixin(shift)" blib/script/grepmail Manifying blib/man1/grepmail.1

It then goes on to fail the test suite because of (I believe) recent changes in Mail::Mbox::MessageParser but that'll be a separate bug report.

Should be fixed in versions > 5.3100