Tried that : said that linux-kernel-headers was a virtual package, provided by linux-libc-dev, so installed that with apt-get and still getting errors: Help ! ... Writing Makefile for Bit::Vector Writing patchlevel.h for /usr/bin/perl (5.008008) cp lib/Bit/Vector/Overload.pm blib/lib/Bit/Vector/Overload.pm cp Vector.pm blib/lib/Bit/Vector.pm cp Vector.pod blib/lib/Bit/Vector.pod cp lib/Bit/Vector/String.pod blib/lib/Bit/Vector/String.pod cp lib/Bit/Vector/Overload.pod blib/lib/Bit/Vector/Overload.pod cp lib/Bit/Vector/String.pm blib/lib/Bit/Vector/String.pm cc -c -D_REENTRANT -D_GNU_SOURCE -DTHREADS_HAVE_PIDS -DDEBIAN -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -I/usr/local/include -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -O2 -DVERSION=\"6.4\" -DXS_VERSION=\"6.4\" -fPIC "-I/usr/lib/perl/5.8/CORE" BitVector.c BitVector.c:8:80: error: stdlib.h: No such file or directory In file included from /usr/lib/gcc/i486-linux-gnu/4.1.2/include/syslimits.h:7, from /usr/lib/gcc/i486-linux-gnu/4.1.2/include/limits.h:11, from BitVector.c:9: /usr/lib/gcc/i486-linux-gnu/4.1.2/include/limits.h:122:61: error: limits.h: No such file or directory BitVector.c:10:80: error: string.h: No such file or directory BitVector.c:11:80: error: ctype.h: No such file or directory BitVector.c: In function âBitVector_Errorâ: BitVector.c:508: error: âNULLâ undeclared (first use in this function) BitVector.c:508: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once BitVector.c:508: error: for each function it appears in.) BitVector.c: In function âBitVector_Bootâ: BitVector.c:547: error: âsize_tâ undeclared (first use in this function) BitVector.c:578: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function âmallocâ BitVector.c:580: error: âNULLâ undeclared (first use in this function) BitVector.c: In function âBitVector_Disposeâ: