Just today, after 2 years of DBI use w/o this problem, it pops up. Occurs during compile -- a 'use' of an application module is sufficient to set it off. 'use DBI' by itself does not trigger the problem.

I haven't touched any of the modules associated w/ the perl installation, v. 5.8.7 from Activestate. I have been changing my application code, but the same sort of changes as usual.

I have replaced the Perl install dir w/ a backup from a few days ago -- problem persists.

SDE is Komodo, which has been getting into "Not Responding" mode more than usual. After adding the method to the top-level scope of DBI, the error message about not being able to locate FIRSTKEY.al goes away, BUT compile is kicked out from DBI, now with no message.

AND: The current DBI module has the FIRSTKEY() on line 1335, below the top scope of DBI.pm; see below. The previous version of DBI, v 11.43 2004/02/01, has the same code. Adding the recommended sub DCL does not change things.

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# $Id: DBI.pm 6755 2006-08-06 21:21:03Z timbo $
# vim: ts=8:sw=4
#
# Copyright (c) 1994-2004  Tim Bunce  Ireland
...
# --------------------------------------------------------------------
# === OPTIONAL MINIMAL BASE CLASSES FOR DBI SUBCLASSES ===

# We only define default methods for harmless functions.
# We don't, for example, define a DBD::_::st::prepare()

{   package        # hide from PAUSE
    DBD::_::common; # ====== Common base class methods ======
    use strict;

    # methods common to all handle types:

    sub _not_impl {
    my ($h, $method) = @_;
    $h->trace_msg("Driver does not implement the $method method.\n");
    return;    # empty list / undef
    }

    # generic TIEHASH default methods:
    sub FIRSTKEY { }
    sub NEXTKEY  { }
    sub EXISTS   { defined($_[0]->FETCH($_[1])) } # XXX undef?
    sub CLEAR    { Carp::carp "Can't CLEAR $_[0] (DBI)" }
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Code tags and formatting added by GrandFather

RESOLVED

The culprit was in application code: an exit() located at top-level module scope rather than inside a sub.

I saw a similar post w/ the same symptom, but not related to DBI. So looks like this is a matter of poor perl handling of exit() during program load, rather than a bug w/ DBI.

CPAN should be able to close bug #21112: Inheritance causes odd behavior.