Come on, give me a break. Would you expect to be able to use a DBI which you compiled on linux/x64 to work on Windows/32bit? I don't think so.

Which was, in fact, my point. PAR doesn't help. Additionally, it isn't obvious how to use PAR to do things like install an example configuration file in /etc.

autoconf and tar, on the other hand, do help.

And the problem with PAR not installing - this is a bog-standard Debian box, with compilers and whatnot. I can't be bothered with subscribing to a mailing list just to report a bug on what is probably the most common platform, especially when it's a bug in software that isn't even particularly useful to me.