To install, simply issue the following commands: perl Makefile.PL make make test make install make realclean Swatch installs just like a CPAN module. If you are not familiar with this process then you may want to read about it by issuing the command: man ExtUtils::MakeMaker Use the "perldoc" command if your "man" cannot find the document. If you see messages like these: Warning: prerequisite Date::Calc 0 not found at (eval 1) line 219. Warning: prerequisite Date::Parse 0 not found at (eval 1) line 219. Warning: prerequisite File::Tail 0 not found at (eval 1) line 219. Warning: prerequisite Time::HiRes 1.12 not found at (eval 1) line 219. Then you need to install the CPAN module(s) that it doesn't find before you can use swatch. You can find these modules at search.cpan.org. However, many operating systems may already bundle them up in neat little packages, so you should check with them first.