I tried to build and make as SU.

Actually, I meant to not run it as root (except for the install step), because from your initial info it looked like you might not have root access to gd.h and friends...

Anyhow, now that you're getting

/usr/ucb/cc:  language optional software package not installed

it looks as though you might not have a compiler installed, or rather, your setup is somewhat messy, so the right one isn't being found ;)   (/usr/ucb/cc typically is just a wrapper script...).

Just in case you do have a real compiler under /opt/SUNWspro/bin/cc, you might try adding /opt/SUNWspro/bin/ to your search path (at the beginning, i.e. export PATH=/opt/SUNWspro/bin:$PATH) before you start the build.

BTW, what is the output of perl -V? Do you have several versions of Perl installed?

Just in case you do have a real compiler under /opt/SUNWspro/bin/cc, you might try adding /opt/SUNWspro/bin/ to your search path (at the beginning, i.e. export PATH=/opt/SUNWspro/bin:$PATH) before you start the build.

As root or normal user? I have this for both cases

root (before exporting as you suggested):

sadm@bioinfo-z:~$ su -
Password:
root@bioinfo-z:~# printenv
SHELL=/bin/bash
TERM=vt100
USER=root
PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/ucb:/bin:/usr/bin:/etc:/usr/sfw/bin:/opt/sfw/
+bin:/opt/SUNWspro/bin:/usr/ccs/bin:/opt/sfw/bin:/opt/SUNWicg/SunScree
+n/bin
PWD=/home/root
SHLVL=1
HOME=/home/root
LOGNAME=root
_=/usr/local/bin/printenv
[download]

normal user:

sadm@bioinfo-z:~$ printenv
LC_MONETARY=en_US.ISO8859-1
TERM=vt100
SHELL=/bin/bash
SSH_CLIENT=172.18.177.29 1681 22
PERL5LIB=/home/sadm/lib/site_perl/sun4-solaris-64int:/home/sadm/lib/si
+te_perl/
LC_NUMERIC=en_US.ISO8859-1
SSH_TTY=/dev/pts/21
USER=sadm
MAIL=/var/mail//sadm
PATH=/home/sadm/.perl/bin:/home/sadm/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/
+sfw/bin:/opt/sfw/bin:/opt/SUNWspro/bin:/usr/ccs/bin
LC_MESSAGES=C
LC_COLLATE=en_US.ISO8859-1
PWD=/home/sadm
EDITOR=vim
TZ=Singapore
SHLVL=1
HOME=/home/sadm
LOGNAME=sadm
SSH_CONNECTION=172.18.177.29 1681 192.168.24.136 22
LC_CTYPE=en_US.ISO8859-1
_=/usr/local/bin/printenv
[download]

And also I have:

sadm@bioinfo-z:~$ perl -ve
This is perl, v5.8.7 built for sun4-solaris-thread-multi

sadm@bioinfo-z:~$ which perl
/home/sadm/.perl/bin/perl
[download]

and as root I have:

root@bioinfo-z:~# perl -ve
This is perl, v5.8.4 built for sun4-solaris-64int
(with 28 registered patches, see perl -V for more detail)

root@bioinfo-z:~# which perl
/bin/perl
[download]

and after exporting export PATH=/opt/SUNWspro/bin:$PATH as root. Doing make give me exactly the same error message as my OP.


---
neversaint and everlastingly indebted.......

so, apparently, you have two Perl installations, which you should take care to not mix up. (BTW, I said perl -V (capital V) - this would've shown the compiler and other settings that the particular version of Perl has been built with. The same compiler should be used to build extensions...).

Just to recap (for me, I'm slowly beginning to get confused :), presuming you want to install the GD binding for the Perl 5.8.7 (in your home(?)), are you still getting the same error cannot find include file: <gd.h>, if you run /home/sadm/.perl/bin/perl Makefile.PL && make as your regular user, and if so, is the header file gd.h in fact accessible under the include path that is specified on the cc command line (i.e. -I/usr/local/include)?