ssconvert independence question

[john edstrom <edstrom teleport com>]

hi,

I need to parse text cells in an excel spreadsheet as part of a web app.
The Perl Spreadsheet::ParseExcel used to work fine, but it can't handle
the excel '2.*' format.

ssconvert does that well, but I need to run it on a tiny remote virtual
(CentOS) server where I'm not allowed to install the 50 or so X11/gnome
libraries that ssconvert links to.

Is there a way to get a statically linked ssconvert, or just compile &
link ssconvert without bringing in the whole Gnome, X11 and ORBIT
family?

Failing that, can anyone here recommend an alternative utility? 

Thanks.

        JE


-- 
john edstrom <edstrom teleport com>