I think I found the reason: RE: Compiling problems of DBD-mysql-2.9003 under solaris 9? That was the problem, there were objects in mysql and in perl that were not compatible (some of perl was 32 bit only, mysql was 64bit only).
In the short term I just got the 32bit version of mysql and that worked, long term will recompile and create new packages. Thanks everyone. could it be that the SUNWmysql5 package is 64 bit only and Perl has some 32 bit? I got Perl via the installation and mysql via pkg install SUNWmysql5. System is 64 bit Xeon. Thanks ET -- This message posted from opensolaris.org
