diff --git a/scsh/SPAN/SPAN.scm b/scsh/SPAN/SPAN.scm
index 15d9dc6..787fc37 100644
--- a/scsh/SPAN/SPAN.scm
+++ b/scsh/SPAN/SPAN.scm
@@ -26,11 +26,6 @@
 ;;; (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF
 ;;; THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 
-(define SPAN-shell-droptext-1
-"The following questions are intended to help you with the
-configuration. The CPAN module needs a directory of its own to cache
-important index files and maybe keep a temporary mirror of CPAN files.
-This may be a site-wide or a personal directory."
 
 (define (SPAN-question~ droptext question answer defaultchoice procedure)
   (let ((s ""))
@@ -52,3 +47,169 @@ This may be a site-wide or a personal directory."
           (else (SPAN-question~ droptext question answer defaultchoice)))
     (procedure answer)))
 
+(define SPAN-shell-droptext-1
+  "The following questions are intended to help you with the
+configuration. The SPAN module needs a directory of its own to cache
+important index files and maybe keep a temporary mirror of SPAN files.
+This may be a site-wide or a personal directory.")
+
+(define SPAN-shell-droptext-2
+  "Unless you are accessing the CPAN on your filesystem via a file: URL,
+CPAN.pm needs to keep the source files it downloads somewhere. Please
+supply a directory where the downloaded files are to be kept.")
+
+(define SPAN-shell-droptext-3
+  "")
+
+(define SPAN-shell-droptext-4
+  "Normally CPAN.pm keeps config variables in memory and changes need to
+be saved in a separate 'o conf commit' command to make them permanent
+between sessions. If you set the 'auto_commit' option to true, changes
+to a config variable are always automatically committed to disk.")
+
+(define SPAN-shell-droptext-5
+"CPAN.pm can limit the size of the disk area for keeping the build
+directories with all the intermediate files.")
+
+(define SPAN-shell-droptext-6
+  "The CPAN indexes are usually rebuilt once or twice per hour, but the
+typical CPAN mirror mirrors only once or twice per day. Depending on
+the quality of your mirror and your desire to be on the bleeding edge,
+you may want to set the following value to more or less than one day
+(which is the default). It determines after how many days CPAN.pm
+downloads new indexes.")
+
+(define SPAN-shell-droptext-7
+  "By default, each time the CPAN module is started, cache scanning is
+performed to keep the cache size in sync. To prevent this, answer
+'never'.")
+
+(define SPAN-shell-droptext-8
+  "To considerably speed up the initial CPAN shell startup, it is
+possible to use Storable to create a cache of metadata. If Storable is
+not available, the normal index mechanism will be used.
+
+Note: this mechanism is not used when use_sqlite is on and SQLLite is
+running.")
+
+(define SPAN-shell-droptext-9
+  "The CPAN module can detect when a module which you are trying to build
+depends on prerequisites. If this happens, it can build the
+prerequisites for you automatically ('follow'), ask you for
+confirmation ('ask'), or just ignore them ('ignore'). Please set your
+policy to one of the three values.")
+
+;; (define SPAN-shell-droptext-10 ;;FIXME
+;;   "Every Makefile.PL is run by perl in a separate process. Likewise we
+;; run 'make' and 'make install' in separate processes. If you have
+;; any parameters (e.g. PREFIX, UNINST or the like) you want to
+;; pass to the calls, please specify them here.
+
+;; If you don't understand this question, just press ENTER.
+
+;; Typical frequently used settings:
+
+;;     PREFIX=~/perl    # non-root users (please see manual for more hints)
+
+;;  <makepl_arg>
+;; Parameters for the 'perl Makefile.PL' command? [] ")
+
+
+;; (define SPAN-shell-droptext-11 ;;FIXME
+;; "Typical frequently used settings:
+
+;;     PREFIX=~/perl    # non-root users (please see manual for more hints)
+
+;;  <makepl_arg>
+;; Parameters for the 'perl Makefile.PL' command? []
+
+;; Parameters for the 'make' command? Typical frequently used setting:
+
+;;     -j3              # dual processor system (on GNU make)
+
+;;  <make_arg>
+;; Your choice: [] ")
+
+
+;; (define SPAN-shell-droptext-12 ;;FIXME
+;; "Parameters for the 'make install' command?
+;; Typical frequently used setting:
+
+;;     UNINST=1         # to always uninstall potentially conflicting files
+
+;;  <make_install_arg>
+;; Your choice: []"
+
+;; (define SPAN-shell-droptext-13 ;;FIXME
+;; "A Build.PL is run by perl in a separate process. Likewise we run
+;; './Build' and './Build install' in separate processes. If you have any
+;; parameters you want to pass to the calls, please specify them here.
+
+;; Typical frequently used settings:
+
+;;     --install_base /home/xxx             # different installation directory
+
+;;  <mbuildpl_arg>
+;; Parameters for the 'perl Build.PL' command? [] ")
+
+;; (define SPAN-shell-droptext-14 ;;FIXME
+;; "Parameters for the './Build' command? Setting might be:
+
+;;     --extra_linker_flags -L/usr/foo/lib  # non-standard library location
+
+;;  <mbuild_arg>
+;; Your choice: [] ")
+
+;; (define SPAN-shell-droptext-15 ;;FIXME
+;; "Do you want to use a different command for './Build install'? Sudo
+;; users will probably prefer:
+
+;;     su root -c ./Build
+;;  or
+;;     sudo ./Build
+;;  or
+;;     /path1/to/sudo -u admin_account ./Build
+
+;;  <mbuild_install_build_command>")
+
+;; (define SPAN-shell-droptext-16 ;;FIXME
+;; "Parameters for the './Build install' command? Typical frequently used
+;; setting:
+
+;;     --uninst 1                           # uninstall conflicting files
+
+;;  <mbuild_install_arg>
+;; Your choice: [] ")
+
+;; (define SPAN-shell-droptext-17 ;;FIXME
+;; "If you're accessing the net via proxies, you can specify them in the
+;; CPAN configuration or via environment variables. The variable in
+;; the $CPAN::Config takes precedence.
+
+;;  <ftp_proxy>
+;; Your ftp_proxy? []")
+
+;; (define SPAN-shell-droptext-18 ;;FIXME
+;; " <http_proxy>
+;; Your http_proxy? []")
+
+;; (define SPAN-shell-droptext-19 ;;FIXME
+;; "<no_proxy>
+;; Your no_proxy? []")
+
+(define SPAN-shell-droptext-20
+"CPAN needs access to at least one CPAN mirror.
+
+As you did not allow me to connect to the internet you need to supply
+a valid CPAN URL now.
+")
+
+(define SPAN-shell-droptext-21
+  "Enter another URL or RETURN to quit: []")
+
+(define SPAN-shell-droptext-22
+  "Please remember to call 'o conf commit' to make the config permanent!
+
+
+cpan shell -- CPAN exploration and modules installation (v1.9402)
+Enter 'h' for help.")
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scsh/SPAN/load.scm b/scsh/SPAN/load.scm
index 6418c31..755fb03 100644
--- a/scsh/SPAN/load.scm
+++ b/scsh/SPAN/load.scm
@@ -27,12 +27,130 @@
 ;;; THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 
 (load "SPAN.scm")
+
+;; initialization
+
+;; question 1
+
+(define SPAN-build-and-cache-dir (string-append (getenv "HOME") "/.span"))
+(define SPAN-download-target-dir (string-append (getenv "HOME") "/.span"))
 ;;prototype (define (SPAN-question~ droptext question answer defaultchoice)
 (SPAN-question~ SPAN-shell-droptext-1
                 "SPAN build and cache directory"
                 ""
-                (string-append (getenv "HOME") "/.span")
+                SPAN-build-and-cache-dir
                 (lambda (answer)
                   (let ((dir (create-directory answer)))
-                    (file-directory? answer)
-                    )))
+                    (if (file-directory? dir)
+                        (set! SPAN-build-and-cache-dir answer)
+                        #f))))
+
+(define SPAN-download-target-dir (string-append SPAN-build-and-cache-dir "/" "sources")
+(SPAN-question~ SPAN-shell-droptext-2
+                "Download target directory"
+                ""
+                SPAN-download-target-dir
+                (lambda (answer)
+                  (let ((dir (create-directory answer)))
+                    (if (file-directory? answer)
+                        (set! SPAN-download-target-dir answer)
+                        #f))))
+
+(define SPAN-build-dir (string-append SPAN-build-and-cache-dir "/" "build")
+(SPAN-question~ SPAN-shell-droptext-3
+                "Directory where the build process takes place?"
+                ""
+                SPAN-download-target-dir
+                (lambda (answer)
+                  (let ((dir (create-directory answer)))
+                    (if (file-directory? answer)
+                        (set! SPAN-build-dir answer)
+                        #f))))
+
+(define SPAN-config "no")
+(SPAN-question~ SPAN-shell-droptext-4
+                "Always commit changes to config variables to disk?"
+                ""
+                SPAN-config
+                (lambda (answer)
+                  (set! SPAN-config answer)
+                  #f))
+
+(define SPAN-build-Mb 100)
+(SPAN-question~ SPAN-shell-droptext-5
+                "Cache size for build directory (in MB)?"
+                ""
+                SPAN-build-Mb
+                (lambda (answer)
+                  (set! SPAN-build-Mb answer)
+                  #f))
+
+(define SPAN-expire 1)
+(SPAN-question~ SPAN-shell-droptext-6
+                "Let the index expire after how many days?"
+                ""
+                SPAN-expire
+                (lambda (answer)
+                  (set! SPAN-expire answer)
+                  #f))
+
+(define SPAN-scan-cache "atstart")
+(SPAN-question~ SPAN-shell-droptext-7
+                "Perform cache scanning (atstart or never)?"
+                ""
+                SPAN-scan-cache
+                (lambda (answer)
+                  (set! SPAN-scan-cache answer)
+                  #f))
+
+(define SPAN-cache-metadata "yes")
+(SPAN-question~ SPAN-shell-droptext-8
+                "Cache metadata (yes/no)?"
+                ""
+                SPAN-cache-metadata
+                (lambda (answer)
+                  (set! SPAN-cache-metadata answer)
+                  #f))
+
+(define SPAN-policy-building "ask")
+(SPAN-question~ SPAN-shell-droptext-9
+                "Policy on building prerequisites (follow, ask or ignore)? [ask]"
+                ""
+                SPAN-policy-building
+                (lambda (answer)
+                  (set! SPAN-policy-building answer)
+                  #f))
+
+;; question 10 is under dev
+;; question 11 is under dev
+;; question 12 is under dev
+;; question 13 is under dev
+
+;; ... until 20
+
+(define SPAN-mirror-url "ask")
+(SPAN-question~ SPAN-shell-droptext-20
+                "Please enter the URL of your CPAN mirror "
+                ""
+                SPAN-mirror-url
+                (lambda (answer)
+                  (set! SPAN-mirror-url answer)
+                  #f))
+
+(define SPAN-mirror-url-2 "")
+(SPAN-question~ SPAN-shell-droptext-21
+                "Enter another URL or RETURN to quit: [] "
+                ""
+                SPAN-mirror-url-2
+                (lambda (answer)
+                  (set! SPAN-mirror-url-2 answer)
+                  #f))
+
+(display SPAN-shell-droptext-22)
+(do ((s (read)(read))
+     ((and (symbol? s)
+           (string<=? (symbol->string s)(string #\return)))
+      0)
+     #t))
+
+(display "Signing off - rest is under dev"))
\ No newline at end of file