Thank you for the update MidLifeXis. (Wonder why I did not see an email informing of this new response. Need to check my profile settings). So, you mean I could just use perl brew to create my own installation of perl (and all its dependencies needed) and add that to the software which then becomes independent of the OS supplied version? I'll explore that path now.

I just got in to report that I found two bugs in mysql (one dup of other) that nail the issue I am facing, but unfortunately, they are not fixed yet...

I'll keep my fingers crossed while brewing the latest version and hoping it somehow, magically, solves the issue. Thank you for your help MidLifeXis and dave_the_m. Appreciate it.