Many so-called "upgrades" are actually downgrades--which was why I had italicized the word in my earlier remark. I'm aware that version 11 is newer; I just do not happen to prefer it.

Regarding the DBD::mysql -- it appears I just needed to do all this a few years ago. It might have worked back then.

I appreciate your help. Yes, I have been attempting to install from the source tarballs--haven't just copied anything in, unless unzipping the portable-format Strawberry Perl that I downloaded counts--version 5.32.1.1, FWIW.