use Perl

Repositories:
[1] ActiveState PPM2 Repository
[2] ActiveState Package Repository
[ ] bribes
[ ] crazy58
[ ] datetime
[ ] esoft
[ ] gtk
[ ] jenda
[ ] openi
[ ] roth
[ ] sablot
[ ] savage
[ ] soulcage58
[ ] theory58
[ ] theory58S

Humph! Ok, they're listed but not active.
I tried to add 'bribes' but failed.
I then used the command line at bribes to add GD.
"ppm install http://www.bribes.org/perl/ppm/GD.ppd"
Worked like a champ! I immediately went off to try to figure out whats going on, but I'm going to have to come back to this later. Re-reading the docs on ppm, checking my version, blah, blah, blah.
Roy.

Win32 Is there a GD module available for Perl
GD now works with Win32, and can be installed using PPM

But the ActiveState build status page says

GD 2.35 FAIL

It seems to be borne out by this post by Xavi on codecomments.com

Finally I've achived to install GD uninstalling activestate 5.8 and installing 5.6 without any problem.

. I found directions and clarifications from Dave Roth here That *may* be out of date though because the latest binary I found of GD.pll (dll) is Win32GD_v960611
This is pretty much a sidetrack from what I'm *actually* working on but since it's a continual problem, I'm going to work on locally compiling modules as time allows.
Since I went ahead and downloaded what CamelPack couldn't find, I probably have most of what it was supposed to do. The exception being, I think, adding the requisite paths. I can probably take care of that. I'll start out with something thats supposed to be simple. ( I googled around a bit but didn't find a single example in my short search BTW )
Any pointers to something (relatively) simple to start with will be appreciated.

Vanilla Perl sounds enticing but I get the distinct feeling everything I'm doing would come to a screeching halt while I tried to get back to what I have installed from ActiveState. Sucky as that is.

I guess the bottom line is: Stennie isn't going to give back the beer, huh? ;-)

I've been using/learning Perl for a while now.

Downloading desired modules has been a continuing problem from day one! I've managed to get most of what I need if it's a native Perl module, but never succeded in getting a make to work.
Most lately, I needed a module, GD.pm, it requires some other stuff, which must be compiled. (This is because of ActiveStates poor support of ppm module conversion.)
As noted on use.perl.org a reward (a vertical meter of beer)was offered for a windoz installation of Perl which filled several requirement. Among them being:

4. The installer MUST also install a (legal) compiler (preferably gcc), preconfigured to work normally when installing XS modules from CPAN.

The award was duly issued to stennie, and worked at the time. Wow! Cool!
But Wait!
Oh shit, when I downloaded and tried it, guess what. Thats right, it's broken. Now this is not an insurmountable obstacle, the directions are there and so are the links to the tools. So in theory, you can reverse engineer and duplicate, eventually getting it to work.
I'm now in the process of trying to do so, but what a PITA! It turned out the 'main' problem was the download site for the GCC tool chain was hard coded in the installer file. So I submit the "solution" isn't really, it's just a road-map so you can roll your own. (even though it's on sourceforge, no-ones maintaining it.)
Again, what a PITA!
Been working at this for WAY too long and God knows how much longer it'll take!
MeanRoy.