Fletch wrote:

As for the OS X case, I don't see libgdbm installed on my box in any form. If you had part of it the only thing I can think of is that you again installed just the runtime shared libraries using something like Darwin Ports or Fink.

And, indeed, that is what I did first, i.e., immediately prior to doing the Perl upgrade to 5.8.8. But my last post was so long that I decided to omit some of the "blind alleys," of which this was one.