# compile/link shared lib which includes Perl interpreter:

gcc -Wall -pedantic -fPIC -shared \
    -o perl_test1.so  perl_test1.c \
    `/usr/local/perl/5.10.0/bin/perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts -e ldopts`

# compile/link the test program that loads it using dlopen:

gcc -Wall -pedantic -Wl,-rpath=. \
    -o perl_test2  perl_test2.c \
    -ldl

# ...and run it:

$ ./perl_test2
$VAR1 = 'this is a string';