redhat 8.0 with perl 5.8.0 and gcc 3.2

"make test" fails with the following results:
========================================================

t/var.............dubious                                                   
 
    Test returned status 0 (wstat 11, 0xb)
DIED. FAILED tests 1-6
    Failed 6/6 tests, 0.00% okay
Failed Test Stat Wstat Total Fail  Failed  List of Failed
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
t/var.t        0    11     6    6 100.00%  1-6
Failed 1/23 test scripts, 95.65% okay. 6/115 subtests failed, 94.78% okay.
make: *** [test_dynamic] Error 2
========================================================


Also, during "make" , there are warnings:
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In file included from Event.xs:278:
c/var.c: In function `pe_var_start':
c/var.c:87: warning: assignment from incompatible pointer type
c/var.c:88: warning: assignment from incompatible pointer type
========================================================


Any ideas as to why this happens.