What you can do is reflect the C library with a Perl distribution (e.g. Alien-wxWidgets). During installation, the distro checks if the necessary C library is installed. If not, the distro either fails to install itself or it installs the C library.

I don't think what I'm about to ask is related to the original post in this thread, but I'd be interested to hear any thoughts, anyway.

Are there Alien::* options that enable the user to specify whether static libs or shared libs are to be built ? (If not, should there be ?)
Some libraries offer other options as well - eg the gmp library provides options regarding the allocation of memory. Does Alien::* cater for these additional options ? (If not, should it ?)

Cheers,
Rob