Installing the Chilkat Perl Module on Linux & Alpine Linux

Step-by-step instructions for installing the Chilkat module on Linux (all architectures) and on Alpine Linux.

1. Download

   Get the build for your system from the Chilkat Linux Perl Downloads (Linux and Alpine are both listed there).

2. What's in the download

   Each .tar.gz contains:

   chilkat-perl-<version>-<arch>-linux/
   ├─ lib/
   │   ├─ chilkat.pm              the Perl module
   │   └─ libchilkat.so           the compiled Chilkat library
   ├─ Makefile.PL                 build script (ExtUtils::MakeMaker)
   ├─ MANIFEST
   ├─ META.yml
   ├─ test.pl                     a short test / unlock example
   ├─ license.pdf
   ├─ pcre2-license.pdf
   ├─ quickjs-license.pdf
   └─ THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt

   (The Alpine download has the same layout, with a musl-compatible libchilkat.so.)

3. Match your Perl version, architecture, and threading

   Confirm the download matches your system. Check each with:

   # Perl version (must match the download's 5.xx)
   perl -version
   
   # CPU architecture (x86_64, aarch64, armv7l, ...)
   uname -m
   
   # Threaded Perl? "define" = use the thread-multi download
   perl -V:useithreads

   If useithreads='define', download the thread-multi build; if useithreads='undef', download the regular build. A mismatch is the usual cause of the PL_stack_base error (see below).

4. Extract to any directory

   tar xzf chilkat-perl-<version>-<arch>-linux.tar.gz

5. Build

   In the newly-created directory:

   perl Makefile.PL
   make

   The library is prebuilt, so this only generates and runs a Makefile that stages the files — there is no C compilation of Chilkat itself.

6. Install

   Still in the same directory:

   make install
   # or, if you need elevated permissions:
   sudo make install

   You need write permission to your Perl library directory — installing system-wide usually requires root.

7. Verify the installation

   Run the included test.pl, or this short script, which unlocks Chilkat in 30-day trial mode and prints the version:

   use chilkat();
   
   my $glob = new chilkat::CkGlobal();
   my $success = $glob->UnlockBundle("Anything for 30-day trial");
   if ($success != 1) {
       print $glob->lastErrorText() . "\n";
       exit;
   }
   
   print "Version: " . $glob->version() . "\n";