A few months ago I installed ActivePerl 5.10 on a Windows XP Pro workstation. Next I tried to install DBD::mysql using CPAN, it failed. When I browsed modules via ppm, a GUI in this version of ActiveState Perl on Windows, DBD::mysql was not listed as an available module.

I then downloaded the source code, manually modified the MAKE file, fiddled with Visual Studio NMAKE, compiled it a few times, without success.

Google revealed the existence of Strawberry Perl. So I removed ActiveState Perl, installed Strawberry, ran ppm install DBI, ppm install DBD-mysql. And it worked.

Fast-forward a few weeks, I started playing with EPIC, a plugin for Eclipse that supposedly provides a nice IDE for Perl development and debugging. As a result, I started fiddling with PadWalker, a prerequisites for EPIC. I couldn’t remember all the details now due to frustration, but suffice it to say that I wrestled with EPIC, Eclipse, and Strawberry so much that I thought maybe I should gave ActiveState another look. Plus, I always wanted to verify for myself what the deal is with ActiveState Perl and DBD-mysql.

So I un-installed Strawberry Perl 5.10, reinstalled ActiveState Perl 5.10. And just like last time, DBD-mysql wouldn’t install. After un-installing ActiveState, reinstalling Strawberry, running ppm install DBD-mysql, I am back in business.

So, if you want to do Perl scripting with MySQL on Windows using DBD-mysql, pick Strawberry Perl, not ActiveState.