There is a file called README.macosx. Did you READIT?

=head2 Installation Prefix

The default installation location for this release uses the traditiona
+l
UNIX directory layout under /usr/local. This is the recommended locati
+on
for most users, and will leave the Apple-supplied Perl and its modules
undisturbed.

Using an installation prefix of '/usr' will result in a directory layo
+ut
that mirrors that of Apple's default Perl, with core modules stored in
'/System/Library/Perl/${version}', CPAN modules stored in
'/Library/Perl/${version}', and the addition of
'/Network/Library/Perl/${version}' to @INC for modules that are stored
on a file server and used by many Macs.
[download]

When you say not use any modules I assume you mean not use any NON CORE modules. The downside of 5.8.x is it is not binary compatible with 5.6 so you have to recompile all non core modules and reinstall them. Actually only those that have C source ie XS modules not Pure Perl. Thus if you achieved your goal of pointing to the old 5.6.x libraries you would be in for some nasty suprises (Pure Perl would be OK, compiled stuff could/should/would/might crash)

./Configure PREFIX=/usr
[download]

Given OS X is *nix and thus should support symlinks

ln -s /System/Library/Perl/5.8.2 /System/Library/Perl
[download]

This aliases /System/Library/Perl to the real dir /System/Lobrary/Perl/5.8.2. but you probably don't wnat to do that. You typically symlink the perl binary into /usr/bin/perl or /usr/bin/local/perl for ease of use. Some people will link to /usr/bin/Perl5.8 so you can get either the original with /usr/bin/perl or 5.8 with ....

ln -s /System/Library/Perl/5.8.2 /System/Library/Perl

should not work, 'cause you're trying to create /System/Library/Perl symlink, which already exist. reverse the argument. So if you enter 5.8.2 symlink you come back to parent dir.

ln -s /System/Library/Perl /System/Library/Perl/5.8.2

As you say the order is:

ln -s REAL_DESTINATION FAKE_DIR
[download]

But if you do a default install you should end up with your perl in /blah/blah/5.8.2/HERE

cheers

tachyon

The advice about sym links and binary incompatabilities are all good, and I agree with what the other respondents have said. But in the end, my best suggestion to you is to upgrade from 10.2 to 10.3.

I have been running OS X since 10.0 (and I used to mess around with some older pre-release developer builds and even some Rhapsody stuff). And while 10.3 has its share of bumps and uglies, it is totally worth the upgrade. It updates alot of the underlying Unix tools in particular the installations of Perl, Python and Ruby. Perl is upgraded to 5.8.0 (not quite 5.8.2 but its ALOT better than 5.6.0).

If you either dont want to upgrade to 10.3 or still feel after upgrading you want 5.8.2, you can take a look at these instructions from Apple's developer site, they might provide some insight.

They are instructions for upgrading from 5.6.0 to 5.8.0, but i imagine (although i dont know since i havent done it myself) that they are still relevant.

Another point to keep in mind is that there is apparently a problem with the threaded version of Perl 5.8 and the latest DBI version on OS X. I am not sure if this has been resolved (I dont use threads).