In your original question, you stated that you're using "Strawberry Perl v.5.10.0". Is there any chance that you could move to a newer version of Strawberry Perl?

I just tried using the portable versions of Strawberry Perl version 5.20.0.1 (32-bit and 64-bit) and 5.24.0.1 (32-bit and 64-bit). I had no issues with installing PDF::API2 (as well as needed prerequisite modules) in any of those environments.

You've mentioned error messages about nmake. The compiler that comes with Strawberry Perl uses dmake, which is included with Strawberry Perl. During my testing of different portable editions of Strawberry Perl, I did notice the following message:

Generating a dmake-style Makefile

My guess is that newer versions of Strawberry Perl are making needed changes to the Makefile to ensure that it will work properly with dmake. Anyways, I suspect that if you can move to a newer version of Strawberry Perl, you'll find it much easier to install modules.

That could be a good option. I will try to update my Perl. Thank you for the suggestions!

ok, so I installed Strawberry Perl install 5.24.0.1 (64bit) and my existing scripts seem to be fine, nothing is broken. Now I'm trying to install PDF::Create. here's the output:

cpan[1]> install PDF::Create
CPAN: Storable loaded ok (v2.18)
Going to read \.cpan\Metadata
  Database was generated on Thu, 01 Sep 2016 14:41:02 GMT
Running install for module 'PDF::Create'
CPAN: Data::Dumper loaded ok (v2.121_14)
'YAML' not installed, falling back to Data::Dumper and Storable to rea
+d prefs '\
.cpan\prefs'
Running make for M/MA/MANWAR/PDF-Create-1.34.tar.gz
CPAN: Digest::SHA loaded ok (v5.45)
CPAN: Compress::Zlib loaded ok (v2.008)
Checksum for \.cpan\sources\authors\id\M\MA\MANWAR\PDF-Create-1.34.tar
+.gz ok
Scanning cache \.cpan\build for sizes
......................................................................
+......DONE

CPAN: Archive::Tar loaded ok (v1.38)
PDF-Create-1.34/
PDF-Create-1.34/t/
PDF-Create-1.34/t/07-fonts.t
PDF-Create-1.34/t/09-cgi-script.pl
PDF-Create-1.34/t/12-version.t
PDF-Create-1.34/t/06-annotation.t
PDF-Create-1.34/t/51-memory-leak.t
PDF-Create-1.34/t/pdf-logo.jpg
PDF-Create-1.34/t/manifest.t
PDF-Create-1.34/t/11-encode.t
PDF-Create-1.34/t/meta-yml.t
PDF-Create-1.34/t/00-load.t
PDF-Create-1.34/t/50-versioning.t
PDF-Create-1.34/t/10-generic.t
PDF-Create-1.34/t/01-basic.t
PDF-Create-1.34/t/03-image.t
PDF-Create-1.34/t/pdf-logo.gif
PDF-Create-1.34/t/99-wifi-parabola.t
PDF-Create-1.34/t/04-drawing.t
PDF-Create-1.34/t/meta-json.t
PDF-Create-1.34/t/pod.t
PDF-Create-1.34/t/02-string.t
PDF-Create-1.34/t/05-outline.t
PDF-Create-1.34/t/09-cgi.t
PDF-Create-1.34/t/changes.t
PDF-Create-1.34/lib/
PDF-Create-1.34/lib/PDF/
PDF-Create-1.34/lib/PDF/Create.pm
PDF-Create-1.34/lib/PDF/Create/
PDF-Create-1.34/lib/PDF/Create/Outline.pm
PDF-Create-1.34/lib/PDF/Create/Page.pm
PDF-Create-1.34/lib/PDF/Font.pm
PDF-Create-1.34/lib/PDF/Image/
PDF-Create-1.34/lib/PDF/Image/GIF.pm
PDF-Create-1.34/lib/PDF/Image/JPEG.pm
PDF-Create-1.34/Makefile.PL
PDF-Create-1.34/README
PDF-Create-1.34/META.json
PDF-Create-1.34/pdf-logo.svg
PDF-Create-1.34/LICENSE
PDF-Create-1.34/MANIFEST
PDF-Create-1.34/META.yml
PDF-Create-1.34/MANIFEST.SKIP
PDF-Create-1.34/Changes
PDF-Create-1.34/share/
PDF-Create-1.34/share/courier.json
PDF-Create-1.34/share/times-italic.json
PDF-Create-1.34/share/helvetica-oblique.json
PDF-Create-1.34/share/times-bolditalic.json
PDF-Create-1.34/share/courier-boldoblique.json
PDF-Create-1.34/share/helvetica.json
PDF-Create-1.34/share/times-roman.json
PDF-Create-1.34/share/courier-oblique.json
PDF-Create-1.34/share/times-bold.json
PDF-Create-1.34/share/courier-bold.json
PDF-Create-1.34/share/helvetica-boldoblique.json
PDF-Create-1.34/share/helvetica-bold.json
PDF-Create-1.34/share/symbol.json
PDF-Create-1.34/eg/
PDF-Create-1.34/eg/verify-char-width
PDF-Create-1.34/eg/pdf-logo.jpg
PDF-Create-1.34/eg/sample.pl
PDF-Create-1.34/eg/pdf-logo.gif
PDF-Create-1.34/eg/sample-cgi.pl
CPAN: File::Temp loaded ok (v0.18)
Warning (usually harmless): 'YAML' not installed, will not store persi
+stent stat
e

  CPAN.pm: Going to build M/MA/MANWAR/PDF-Create-1.34.tar.gz

Can't locate File/ShareDir/Install.pm in @INC (@INC contains: D:/Oracl
+e/Middlewa
re/Oracle_BI1/perl/lib D:/Oracle/Middleware/Oracle_BI1/perl/site/lib .
+) at Makef
ile.PL line 7.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at Makefile.PL line 7.
Warning: No success on command[D:\Oracle\Middleware\Oracle_BI1\perl\bi
+n\perl.exe
 Makefile.PL]
Warning (usually harmless): 'YAML' not installed, will not store persi
+stent stat
e
  MANWAR/PDF-Create-1.34.tar.gz
  D:\Oracle\Middleware\Oracle_BI1\perl\bin\perl.exe Makefile.PL -- NOT
+ OK
Running make test
  Make had some problems, won't test
Running make install
  Make had some problems, won't install
Could not read '\.cpan\build\PDF-Create-1.34-QrBY7c\META.yml'. Falling
+ back to o
ther methods to determine prerequisites
Failed during this command:
 MANWAR/PDF-Create-1.34.tar.gz                : writemakefile NO 'D:\O
+racle\Midd
leware\Oracle_BI1\perl\bin\perl.exe Makefile.PL' returned status 512
cpan[2]>
[download]

What should I try now? TIA

Using 64-bit portable Strawberry Perl 5.24.0.1, I had no issues installing PDF::Create.

Do you have multiple versions of Perl installed?

I ask for two reasons. First, it looks like your CPAN environment is complaining about not having YAML installed, but YAML comes already installed in Strawberry Perl 5.24.0.1. Secondly, it kind of looks like you've got some software from Oracle that is including a version of Perl - and that could be a custom built Perl that their software is using. ("D:\Oracle\Middleware\Oracle_BI1\perl\bin\perl.exe" is not the default installation location for Strawberry Perl.)

Having multiple versions of Perl installed can get tricky to manage if you're not careful. For example, if you modify your system's path variable to look at your Strawberry Perl installation before looking at this Oracle custom Perl installation, that could potentially create issues for your Oracle software. Personally, I have not tried having multiple versions of Perl installed in a Windows environment.

On Linux systems, one way to manage multiple Perl installations is to use perlbrew. Unfortunately, perlbrew utilizes Linux system commands and therefore won't work in Windows. David Farrell created berrybrew to simulate perlbrew for Windows and leverages Strawberry Perl's portable versions. Later, stevieb forked that to add other functionality, which can be found here. (You can read here and here for details on why the fork happened.) If you're needing to have multiple versions of Perl installed, using berrybrew could help make things easier for you to manage.

Hi,

Which strawberry perl installer did you use?

What does the path command print (  path > path.txt && path.txt )?

all right, I've got a brand new virtual Windows machine set up, and installed Strawberry Perl 5.24.0.1 64 bit. The VM has no Oracle. Now, I'm trying to install PDF::Create and here's what I've got.

LWP failed with code[500] message[Can't connect to www.cpan.org:80]
Warning: no success downloading 'C:\STRAWB~1\cpan\sources\authors\01ma
+ilrc.txt.g
z.tmp3728'. Giving up on it.
Fetching with LWP:
http://www.cpan.org/authors/01mailrc.txt.gz
LWP failed with code[500] message[Can't connect to www.cpan.org:80]
Warning: no success downloading 'C:\STRAWB~1\cpan\sources\authors\01ma
+ilrc.txt.g
z.tmp3728'. Giving up on it.
Warning: no success downloading 'C:\STRAWB~1\cpan\sources\authors\01ma
+ilrc.txt.g
z.tmp3728'. Giving up on it.

As a last resort we now switch to the external ftp command 'C:\Windows
+\system32\
ftp.exe'
to get 'C:\STRAWB~1\cpan\sources\authors\01mailrc.txt.gz.tmp3728'.

Doing so often leads to problems that are hard to diagnose.

If you're the victim of such problems, please consider unsetting the
ftp config variable with

    o conf ftp ""
    o conf commit

Fetching with LWP:
http://cpan.strawberryperl.com/authors/01mailrc.txt.gz
LWP failed with code[500] message[Can't connect to cpan.strawberryperl
+.com:80]
Warning: no success downloading 'C:\STRAWB~1\cpan\sources\authors\01ma
+ilrc.txt.g
z.tmp3728'. Giving up on it.
Fetching with LWP:
http://www.cpan.org/authors/01mailrc.txt.gz
LWP failed with code[500] message[Can't connect to www.cpan.org:80]
Warning: no success downloading 'C:\STRAWB~1\cpan\sources\authors\01ma
+ilrc.txt.g
z.tmp3728'. Giving up on it.
Fetching with LWP:
http://www.cpan.org/authors/01mailrc.txt.gz
LWP failed with code[500] message[Can't connect to www.cpan.org:80]
Warning: no success downloading 'C:\STRAWB~1\cpan\sources\authors\01ma
+ilrc.txt.g
z.tmp3728'. Giving up on it.
Warning: no success downloading 'C:\STRAWB~1\cpan\sources\authors\01ma
+ilrc.txt.g
z.tmp3728'. Giving up on it.

As a last resort we now switch to the external ftp command 'C:\Windows
+\system32\
ftp.exe'
to get 'C:\STRAWB~1\cpan\sources\authors\01mailrc.txt.gz.tmp3728'.

Doing so often leads to problems that are hard to diagnose.

If you're the victim of such problems, please consider unsetting the
ftp config variable with

    o conf ftp ""
    o conf commit

Please check, if the URLs I found in your configuration file
(http://cpan.strawberryperl.com/, http://www.cpan.org/,
http://www.cpan.org/) are valid. The urllist can be edited. E.g. with 
+'o
conf urllist push ftp://myurl/'

Could not fetch authors/01mailrc.txt.gz
Lockfile removed.
[download]

It looks like the Windows system (or VM) does not have internet access or the VM needs to go through a web proxy and the cpan utility hasn't been configured with the web proxy details. Basically the cpan utility is telling you that it can't access the http://www.cpan.org web site.