*.xs files are turned into *.c files that are then compiled into shared libraries (DLLs on Windows). Read perldoc perlxstut, perldoc perlxs, perldoc perlmod, and perldoc perlmodlib for more information.

If you want to make (changes to) *.xs code under Windows, then you really want WinNT or later and the same C compiler that was used to build your version of Perl (which means Microsoft Visual C++ unless you have an unusual distribution of Perl installed).

        - tye (but my friends call me "Tye")