great! thanks for CLEAN_AFTER_BUILD (Edit: so fortunate that BrowserUK did not delete that node!)

There's also stevieb's excellent node Wrapping a C shared library with Perl and XS -- where he shared his process for prototyping with Inline::C and using the CLEAN_AFTER_BUILD to then snag the XS it creates to convert the module into an XS distribution. It's quite the detailed step-by-step, and may come in handy for any reading this portion of the thread, who may be wanting to get started in XS. (I was surprised when he didn't link it himself in Re: XS, raspberry pi, and a hundred bucks.... or at least in his response to Re^2: XS, raspberry pi, and a hundred bucks in Re^3: XS, raspberry pi, and a hundred bucks.)

good reference thanks