Thanks for the details :-)

I think you're right. I think I need to know more about how the shared libraries are installed and referenced. Is there some documentation that explains this?

I understand that when I install a module that I get some perl code and some compiled code, but I'm not sure how this works, where it ends up, and how to make sure it's in the right place.

It would be easier to help if we knew, for example, what platform you're on, what modules (you think) you have installed, how exactly you installed them, whether there were any errors at build/install time, etc.

In general, for tracking down problems with dependent libs, ldd is your friend (assuming you're on Linux/Unix — though there are similar tools for Windows).  For example, if you have Crypt::SSLeay installed, find Crypt/SSLeay/SSLeay.so, and run ldd on it. It should list what other shared libraries SSLeay.so depends on, and whether (and from where) those other libraries (such as libssl.so) would be loaded.

Cool. That displays:

ldd ./lib/site_perl/5.12.2/i86pc-solaris-thread-multi/auto/Crypt/SSLea
+y/SSLeay.so
        libssl.so.0.9.8 =>       (file not found)
        libcrypto.so.0.9.8 =>    (file not found)
        libc.so.1 =>     /lib/libc.so.1
        libm.so.2 =>     /lib/libm.so.2
[download]

So somewhere in this particular compile, I've messed up the libraries.

Thanks very much for your help!