1. Ok.. this works for me:

   #!/usr/bin/perl
   use strict;
   use Cwd;
   use Carp;
   use GD;
   
   my $jpeg_quality=90;
   my $content = `date`;
   my $out = sprintf "/tmp/out.jpg", time;
   
   my $image1 = new GD::Image(200,250);
   my $red = $image1->colorAllocate(255,0,0);      
   my $white = $image1->colorAllocate(255,255,255);      
   
   $image1->fill(0,0,$white);
   
   $image1->string(gdSmallFont,2,2,$content,$red);
   
   open(DATEI ,'>', $out) || die "could not write image: +$!";
   binmode DATEI;
   print DATEI ($image1->jpeg($jpeg_quality));
   close(DATEI);
   
   warn "saved $out\n";
   [download]

2. And this freaks out:

   #!/usr/bin/perl
   use strict;
   use Cwd;
   use Carp;
   use GD;
   
   
   
   my $font_arg ='/home/leo/misc/fonts/Suicide.ttf';
   my $jpeg_quality=90;
   my $content = `date`;
   my $out = sprintf "/tmp/out.jpg", time;
   -f $font_arg or die;
   
   my $font = GD::Font->load($font_arg) or die('cant load font'); # line 
   +15
   
   my $image1 = new GD::Image(200,250);
   
   my $red = $image1->colorAllocate(255,0,0);      
   my $white = $image1->colorAllocate(255,255,255);      
   
   $image1->fill(0,0,$white); # background
   
   $image1->string($font,2,2,$content,$red);
   
   open(DATEI ,'>', $out) || die "could not write image: +$!";
   binmode DATEI;
   print DATEI ($image1->jpeg($jpeg_quality));
   close(DATEI);
   warn "saved $out\n";
   [download]

   Output:

   [leo@mescaline ~]$ perl test2.pl
   panic: malloc at test2.pl line 15.
   [download]

Anyone? Help?