It sounds like you downloaded the source form perl.org or somewhere else. Only the ActiveState distributions have PPM by default.
Either adapt to using the CPAN module or install PPM as described in another answer. You will find more modules available on CPAN than the PPM repsoitories - in some cases they are ONLY available on CPAN, so even if you have PPM you will ulrimately need to use CPAN anyway. In particulalr I refer to the Crypt:: series of modules.
The ActiveState PPM repository is built automatically. If a module doesn't compile cleanly with no interaction then it won't make it into the repository. The are many modules on CPAN that are fully functional, but have a need for interaction in the process that just don't make it into the repository.
jdtoronto
