I got around to installing 5.8.7 and attempted a rebuild of Object::InsideOut, and got the same failures as before, but this time noted that Makefile.pl produced a warning

Locally installed version of Scalar::Util does not support weakened
references.  It is strongly recommended that you download the lastest 
+version
of the Scalar-List-Utils module from CPAN, and attempt to remedy this
deficiency.  View this module's documentation for further information.

Writing Makefile for Object::InsideOut
[download]

I tracked that down to the XS version not having been built/distributed as a part of 5.8.7. So I pulled the CPAN version and attempted to build it, and it refused to attempt to build. That I tracked down to the can_cc() apparently returning false.

Cutting a long story short(ish), harcoding the $do_xs var in the Scalar-List::Util Makefile to true, allowed me to cleanly build the xs version, making the isweak() and other XS-only functions available. With that, O::IO builds, tests and runs clean.

Why can_cc() fails I cannot work out, but...if you get other failures on Win32, that would be a good starting point.

I should probably raise a bug report against something, but what? AS 813, SL::U or MakeMaker?

The problem comes from can_cc() using the 'cc' value in Config. Thus, the bug is in Module::Install - in inc/Module/Install/Can.pm. It needs to accommodate ExtUtils::FakeConfig, replacing "use Config;" with:

eval { require Config_m; };     # ExtUtils::FakeConfig (+ ActivePerl)
if ($@) {
    eval { require Config; };   # Everyone else
}
[download]

Then on your end, you'd need to install and configure ExtUtils::FakeConfig to have the correct 'cc' entry.

Or you could just edit your Config.pm, and change the 'cc' entry to something that works.


Remember: There's always one more bug.

Thanks for the follow up.

However, I'm not sure that editting Config.pm is going to do it, as it already appears to be correct.

P:\test>perl -V
Summary of my perl5 (revision 5 version 8 subversion 7) configuration:
[...]
  Compiler:
    cc='cl', ccflags ='-nologo -Gf -W3 -MD -Zi -DNDEBUG -O1 -DWIN32 -D
+_CONSOLE -DNO
    optimize='-MD -Zi -DNDEBUG -O1',
[...]
Characteristics of this binary (from libperl):
  Compile-time options: MULTIPLICITY USE_ITHREADS USE_LARGE_FILES
                        USE_SITECUSTOMIZE PERL_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT
                        PERL_IMPLICIT_SYS
  Locally applied patches:
        ActivePerl Build 813 [148120]
        Iin_load_module moved for compatibility with build 806
        PerlEx hacks for CGI::Carp
        Less verbose ExtUtils::Install and Pod::Find
        instmodsh upgraded from ExtUtils-MakeMaker-6.25
        24699 ICMP_UNREACHABLE handling in Net::Ping
        21540 Fix backward-compatibility issues in if.pm
  Built under MSWin32
  Compiled at Jun  6 2005 13:36:37
  @INC:
    c:/Perl/lib
    c:/Perl/site/lib
    .

P:\test>perl -V:cc
cc='cl';

P:\test>perl -MConfig -le"print $Config{'cc'}"
cl

P:\test>cl
Microsoft (R) 32-bit C/C++ Standard Compiler Version 13.00.9466 for 80
+x86
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 1984-2001. All rights reserved.

usage: cl [ option... ] filename... [ /link linkoption... ]
[download]

And, without making any pretence to understand the whole E::MM / M::I convolutions, I cannot see why I should need to install a fake configuration, when the real one is correct?

---

Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.

Lingua non convalesco, consenesco et abolesco. -- Rule 1 has a caveat! -- Who broke the cabal?

"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".

In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.