This is one of those "bang head here" issues. I was trying to install Net::SSH::Perl, which basically drives SSH through Perl, on a Win32 client today. First I couldn't locate Net-SSH-Perl in the ActiveState repositories. Odd, but we can overcome that. A quick search and I have several locations where the .ppd file is. Great! Let's try that install again with one of those URLs. It starts to install but then it failed telling me it couldn't find Crypt-DES.ppd. I had the Net-SSH-Perl.ppd from one of apache.org's web servers, so I tried a different site with the Net-SSH-Perl.ppd. Same error. This couldn't have been a coincidence. Okay, search on DES and sure enough, it's there. But try to install it and get the failure to find the .ppd file.

So I did some more searching and came across this post on Pavleck.com. Sure enough, under the ActivePerl FAQ for 5.8, there is a section that lists unavailable packages. And the reason given is the following:

Unlike the United States, the Export Control List of Canada places no significant restriction on the export of cryptographic software; however, the Canadian Federal Government does require that companies, organizations or individuals that wish to distribute cryptographic software get a permit in order to do so. ActiveState does not currently have this permission, so you must currently access other repositories for the following modules:

    Crypt-Blowfish, Crypt-Blowfish_PP
    Crypt-CAST5, Crypt-CAST5_PP
    Crypt-DH
    Crypt-DSA, Crypt-RSA
    Crypt-GPG
    Crypt-GOST, Crypt-GOST_PP
    Crypt-IDEA
    Crypt-OpenPGP, Crypt-PGP2, Crypt-PGP5, Crypt-PGPSimple
    Crypt-OpenSSL-DSA, Crypt-OpenSSL-RSA, Crypt-OpenSSL-SMIME
    Crypt-RC4, Crypt-RC5, Crypt-RC6
    Crypt-RIPEMD160
    Crypt-Rijndael, Crypt-Rijndael_PP
    Crypt-Serpent
    Crypt-Twofish, Crypt-Twofish2, TwoFish
    Crypt-SSLeay, Net_SSLeay

ActiveState is based out of Vancouver so that means they need a permit to "export." But they don't have one. Anyone can download ActiveState Perl, use PPM and come right in to those repositories, so I understand why ActiveState has to take this stance. Grumbling, I connect to the University of Winnipeg repository and not only do I find Crypt-DES, but I also find Net-SSH-Perl. Net::SSH::Perl depends on Crypt-DES, Crypt-DES_EDE3, and a few others, none of which are available from the ActiveState repositories. Run the install and all is well. So if you're needing the Crypt packages or anything depending on them in Perl, check the University of Winnapeg's repository or another like it.