How read Gmail via POP3 with ActivePerl 5.10 on Windows XP? - perl

Question

I'm using Windows XP SP3 with ActiveState Perl 5.10.0, and I've written this function--taken/edited from CPAN's Net::POP3--in an attempt to read Gmail via POP3:
my $pop = Net::POP3->new('pop.gmail.com',
Timeout => 60,
Port => 995,
Debug => 1) || die "$!";
my $num = $pop->login('xyz#gmail.com', 'password');
if (!defined($num))
{
die "Error: couldn't sign-in to your email account.\n";
}
elsif ($num > 0)
{
warn "There are $num message(s) in your inbox.\n";
my $msgnums = $pop->list;
foreach my $msgnum (keys %$msgnums)
{
my $msg = $pop->get($msgnum);
print #$msg;
}
}
else
{
die "There are no messages in your inbox. (Nothing to do.)\n"
}
$pop->quit;
The code simply times-out with this error message:
Use of uninitialized value in numeric eq (==) at C:/Perl/lib/Net/POP3.pm line 59.
Bad file descriptor at pop3.pl line xxx (i.e., the Net::POP3->new() line)
The debug info from Net::POP3 before the timeout occurred was:
Net::POP3>>> Net::POP3(2.29)
Net::POP3>>> Net::Cmd(2.29)
Net::POP3>>> Exporter(5.62)
Net::POP3>>> IO::Socket::INET(1.31)
Net::POP3>>> IO::Socket(1.30_01)
Net::POP3>>> IO::Handle(1.27)
Net::POP3=GLOB(0x20d253c): Timeout at pop3.pl line xxx
I also tried using Mail::POP3Client; no joy on Windows XP because neither CPAN nor PPM would install it and its dependencies (IO::SOCKET::SSL and etc.).
Any ideas what's wrong with my code and/or how one can read Gmail via POP3 on Windows XP with ActivePerl 5.10.0?
According to Gmail, the standard configuration instructions are:
Incoming Mail (POP3) Server - requires SSL: pop.gmail.com
Use SSL: Yes
Port: 995

Answer 1

You need to use SSL to access GMail. This means you need to install the Perl module IO::Socket::SSL. But this is very simple. ActiveState ships a good cpan client and a huge amount of binary 'PPM' packages. It does require that you upgrade Perl to 5.14 or 5.16 or get some kind of contract they require for supporting older perls.
You can also use Strawberry Perl; it has an equally good cpan client + build tools.