++ for syphilis and ikegami. Your comments forced me to go back, install dmake (which I didn't think I needed) and learn a valuable lesson not learned after reading Compiling C/C++ based Modules under ActiveState using MinGW (ironically posted by syphilis).

SOLUTION:

Since I do some C work, I already have Dev-Cpp (http://bloodshed.net) installed (thus MingW gcc in C:\Dev-cpp\bin in my path). However, the 'make.exe' installed with Dev-cpp is not liked by ActiveState Perl - it asks for 'dmake.exe' specifically; however, we know MS 'nmake.exe' works "well" also. I downloaded MS 'nmake.exe' to be able to do the:

perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install
[download]

and the Microsoft 'nmake.exe' (in place of 'make' in the above example) works fine with ActiveState with or without a C compiler installed (as one isn't needed) for simple Perl modules (that is, ones without XS C compile required). However for more complicated modules - that is - ones that require a C compiler for XS components, it *IS* essential that you match your make utility and your C compiler.

• dmake, MingW (gcc.exe)
• nmake, MS VC++ (cl.exe)

After taking the comments into consideration, I did a:

ppm install dmake
[download]

I then moved 'nmake.exe' out of my path. I added 'C:\Perl\site\bin' (where 'dmake.exe' was installed) to the end of my path (which already had 'C:\Dev-cpp\bin' among other things). Now, a:

perl Makefile.PL
dmake
dmake test
dmake install
[download]

Worked fine - using the C:\Perl\Site\bin\dmake.exe and C:\Dev-cpp\bin\* C utilities (compiler, linker, DLL tools). My XS module compiled fine - as expected.

LESSON:

When doing module compiles involving C code, make (pun intended) sure your make utility and C compiler "match". That is:

• dmake, MingW (gcc.exe)
• nmake, MS VC++ (cl.exe)

seem to work best. Note, these are probably not the only make/C utilities available, they are just the combinations I've 'tested' during this experience.