Hmmm, I'm not doing that. I am getting these errors from running cpan <module name>. I only used dmake in my original post to succicntly show the problem. I'll do a screen scrape tomorrow of the cpan command output.

Hmmm, I'm not doing that. I am getting these errors from running cpan <module name>. I only used dmake in my original post to succicntly show the problem. I'll do a screen scrape tomorrow of the cpan command output.

Sorry, but this is the only way to get this error, esp with strawberry perl

cpan <module name does about a dozen things, including run perl Makefile.PL ... with arguments from your cpan configuration

I've seen this crop up a dozen times, and always because Makefile built for nmake was being called with dmake

You don't actually need to have an nmake.exe anywhere on your system

Looking for DFSEP ... in the source code is just digging too deep, too soon

Everything in your posts confirms that perl Makefile.PL make=nmake is the reason, whether its because of cpan configuration or Config_heavy.pl (like say, a different perl in your path gets called for some reason)

Everything in your posts confirms that perl Makefile.PL make=nmake is the reason, whether its because of cpan configuration or Config_heavy.pl

You mention CPAN conf. I see the Strawberry Perl dmake called out explicitly.

cpan> o conf
$CPAN::Config options from C:\strawberry\perl\lib/CPAN/Config.pm:
    commit             [Commit changes to disk]
    defaults           [Reload defaults from disk]
    help               [Short help about 'o conf' usage]
    init               [Interactive setting of all options]

    applypatch         []
    auto_commit        [1]
    build_cache        [10]
    build_dir          [C:\strawberry\cpan\build]
    build_dir_reuse    [0]
    build_requires_install_policy [yes]
    bzip2              []
    cache_metadata     [0]
    check_sigs         [0]
    colorize_debug     undef
    colorize_output    [0]
    colorize_print     [bold blue on_white]
    colorize_warn      [bold red on_white]
    commandnumber_in_prompt [0]
    commands_quote     undef
    connect_to_internet_ok undef
    cpan_home          [C:\strawberry\cpan]
    curl               []
    dontload_hash      undef
    dontload_list      undef
    ftp                [C:\WINDOWS\system32\ftp.EXE]
    ftp_passive        [1]
    ftp_proxy          []
    ftpstats_period    undef
    ftpstats_size      undef
    getcwd             [cwd]
    gpg                []
    gzip               [ ]
    halt_on_failure    undef
    histfile           [C:\strawberry\cpan\histfile]
    histsize           [100]
    http_proxy         []
    inactivity_timeout [0]
    index_expire       [1]
    inhibit_startup_message [0]
    keep_source_where  [C:\strawberry\cpan\sources]
    load_module_verbosity [none]
    lynx               []
    make               [C:\strawberry\c\bin\dmake.EXE]
    make_arg           []
    make_install_arg   [UNINST=1]
    make_install_make_command undef
    makepl_arg         []
    mbuild_arg         []
    mbuild_install_arg [--uninst 1]
    mbuild_install_build_command undef
    mbuildpl_arg       []
    ncftp              []
    ncftpget           []
    no_proxy           []
    pager              [C:\WINDOWS\system32\more.COM]
    password           undef
    patch              [C:\strawberry\c\bin\patch.exe]
    patches_dir        undef
    perl5lib_verbosity undef
    prefer_external_tar undef
    prefer_installer   [MB]
    prefs_dir          [C:\strawberry\cpan\prefs]
    prerequisites_policy [follow]
    proxy_pass         undef
    proxy_user         undef
    randomize_urllist  undef
    scan_cache         [atstart]
    shell              [C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe]
    show_unparsable_versions [0]
    show_upload_date   [1]
    show_zero_versions [0]
    tar                [ ]
    tar_verbosity      [none]
    term_is_latin      [0]
    term_ornaments     [0]
    test_report        [0]
    trust_test_report_history undef
    unzip              []
    urllist
        0 [http://cpan.strawberryperl.com/]
    use_sqlite         [1]
    username           undef
    version_timeout    undef
    wait_list          undef
    wget               []
    yaml_load_code     [0]
    yaml_module        [YAML]
[download]

Maybe I should update make_arg with make=dmake?

Also, the dir C:\strawberry\cpan\prefs is completely empty. Not sure if that is relevant.

EDIT: And here are all the "makes" in Config_heavy.pl.

C:\strawberry\perl\lib
> find "make" Config_heavy.pl

---------- CONFIG_HEAVY.PL
firstmakefile='makefile'
gmake='gmake'
make='dmake'
make_set_make='#'
pmake=''
[download]