(Question crossposted to http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6713057/cant-install-a-modern-perl-from-source)

I see at http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-873787-start-0.html:

Solved - corrupt /usr/bin/ls

Linked to /bin/ls and all built OK

If this is in fact the problem, I would like to hear more about the ls that didn't work.