Your advice is correct in some respects, but incorrect in others.
  1. libdb.so is a shared library, whereas libdb.a is a static library. If you have both libdb.so and libdb.a available in the search paths used by a C compiler (gcc in this case), then the shared library is preferred. Shared libraries are preferred because they prevent the code from begin compiled into your resulting Perl binary, which increases binary size and requires more resources every time it is invoked. The previous comments about needing libdb.a instead of libdb.so were incorrect.
  2. Having the library is not sufficient; you need the development headers as well. This was a correct stateement.

If you or someone you know has root access to the system, you can start at this page for the version of Solaris you have (as opposed to using the SunFreeware one):

http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/freeware/index.xml

You can get the Berkeley DB companion software for Solaris 8, 9, 10 and on Sparc and Intel platforms. Sun requires a free login to access the downloads (both DVD ISO image and individual package downloads).

In reply to Re^4: Error during compilation of 5.8.8 on solaris 10 by Sinistral
in thread Error during compilation of 5.8.8 on solaris 10 by mmakarczyk

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