perl Makefile.PL XMLPREFIX='/usr/local'
Set up build environment without MacOSX10.4u SDK (will build native bi
+naries)
enable native perl UTF8
running xml2-config...untested
Note: libxml2 2.7.8 was not tested with this XML::LibXML version.
looking for -lxml2... no
looking for -llibxml2... no
libxml2 not found
Try setting LIBS and INC values on the command line
Or get libxml2 from 
  http://xmlsoft.org/
If you install via RPMs, make sure you also install the -devel
RPMs, as this is where the headers (.h files) are.
[download]

The debug output above shows another problem: "ld: warning: in /usr/local/lib/libiconv.dylib, missing required architecture x86_64 in file" Looks like libiconv was built as 32-bit only - you'll need to fix that to use it from a 64-bit Perl.

I am encountering this problem, albeit under slightly different conditions.   And this solution just feels cumbersome...   Is it indeed the case that, if you are encountering a lib-path problem in the installation of this package, that you must (I think...) look at the package in cpan and then type this command?   Instead of simply being able to install it?

Is there (not?) a way to specify the library search path, by means of some cpan-configuration entry or another?   It’s all just so wonderfully automatic, so much of the time ... isn’t there a cleaner and therefore better way to do this?

(See also: http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=847888.   I am by no means the first person across many years to have encountered or discussed this; this I know.   I’m not saying that anything about it is per se “wrong,” only that it feels like driving around on a square wheel.)   Note that on the target system a compatible version of the underlying library is installed, just not in a place where the CPAN installer script can find it.   Is there a “really good” way to specify this kind of environment-related info?