in reply to make file

Have you tried:
$ perl -MCPAN -e shell cpan> install DBI
This would use CPAN to do the install and would install the necessary predependencies. If you are not root, there is a way to set up a Config.pm in your PERL5LIB that would allow you to install CPAN modules under your own home directory. I have done this before, but I do not remeber the steps.

Is there a reason that you have to do a manual install?

Ivan Heffner
Sr. Software Engineer, DAS Lead
WhitePages.com, Inc.