libxmperlinterpreter Lib Checking

I'm getting this error early in the compile:

*** Warning: Linking the shared library
libxmperlinterpreter.la against the
*** static library
/usr/lib/perl/5.8/auto/DynaLoader/DynaLoader.a is not
portable!
/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lperl
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make[5]: *** [libxmperlinterpreter.la] Error 1
make[5]: Leaving directory
`/home/gtaylor/xpertmud/xpertmud/scripting/perl'
make[4]: *** [all] Error 2
make[4]: Leaving directory
`/home/gtaylor/xpertmud/xpertmud/scripting/perl'
make[3]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory
`/home/gtaylor/xpertmud/xpertmud/scripting'
make[2]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory
`/home/gtaylor/xpertmud/xpertmud'
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/gtaylor/xpertmud'
make: *** [all] Error 2

The configure script should check for the presence of
the perl lib early on so this doesn't pop up out of
nowhere. It already does this correctly for the X libs.