For Tk804.025 to build properly on Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) or 10.3 (Panther), Perl must be built dynamic, rather that the default of static.
The above is somewhat misleading. As of Perl 5.8.1, the default on Mac OS X *when building a new Perl* is to create a static libperl. However, the Perl that ships with both Jaguar and Panther is built with a dynamic libperl.
The Configure script they mention is part of the Perl source code. The -Duseshrplib causes Perl to be built with a dynamic libperl, rather than the default static. The -Dprefix= option is the location to which the new Perl will be installed - using it to overwrite the system Perl is *not* recommended. See the README.macosx file that comes with Perl for more information on what these options do.
Keep in mind that the options listed may *not* be complete. Depending on how you want to build your Perl - threading or not, two-level name spaces or not, etc. - you may need other options in addition to those shown in the example. The example as given simply illustrates the one option that needs to be used in order to build a Perl that pTk likes.
sherm--
