Yes, Microsoft Visual C++ is a commercial product and you usually have pay money to get a license to use it. There are free editions, but ActiveState uses MSVC6 to build ActiveState Perl and you will need version 6 as well if you want to build extensions to it. Version 6 is only available against payment.

If I may suggest a better approach to your questions, "didn't work either" is not an error description that helps me provide solutions to your questions.

Is there a link to download a free compiler that can compile source files from cpan?

As I said already, Strawberry Perl aims to provide an all-in-one package for that. In theory, you can even compile extensions for ActiveState Perl with the toolchain provided by Strawberry Perl.

In reply to Re^3: really need help with DBD::Oracle installation by Corion
in thread really need help with DBD::Oracle installation by adrive

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