CPAN Has a Mirror Choice and a Proxy Choice
Changing CPAN mirror URLs does not disable its proxy, and CPAN no_proxy is a host list rather than a universal on/off switch.
A CPAN download can use an HTTPS mirror and still travel through an HTTP proxy. Those labels describe different connections: the requested mirror and the intermediary used to reach it.
In the interactive CPAN client, urllist controls the mirror list. Inspecting it helps explain an unexpected FTP attempt. Changing that list does not, by itself, turn off the proxy.
o conf urllist
o conf http_proxy
o conf no_proxyThese are inspection commands. Read their output before replacing a working organization's settings with an old mirror list.
There is an especially misleading shortcut in some old recipes: o conf no_proxy 1. The CPAN manual defines no_proxy as a comma-separated list of hosts or domains that should avoid the proxy. It is not documented as a Boolean “disable every proxy” flag. A value of 1 does not express the general policy that the command appears to promise.
For a direct download, establish which proxy configuration and inherited environment the actual download path reads, then remove or bypass the relevant route deliberately. For a protocol change, choose an appropriate reachable HTTPS mirror instead. Neither operation should require disabling certificate verification.
Once the intended configuration is settled, o conf commit saves it. This discussion concerns the interactive CPAN client; cpanm is a separate program with its own downloader choices.