You need to match up your GD c-library version with the Perl module. Either install the latest GD c lib from boutell.com OR try and find an older Perl module that was built against GD 2.46.

There is also Imager, which is a great Imaging module.

#!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;
use Imager;

my $img = Imager->new(xsize=>400,ysize=>300);
$img->box(filled=>1, color=>"ffffff"); #fill the background color

my $blue = Imager::Color->new("#0000FF");

my $font = Imager::Font->new(
   file  => 'Generic.ttf',
   index => 0,
   color => $blue,
   size  => 30,
   aa    => 1);

$img->string(
   font=>$font,
   text=>'This is a test string',
   x=>20,
   y=>70);

 $img->write(file=>"$0.jpg", type=>"jpeg") or die "Cannot write file: 
+", Imager->errstr;
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