ExtUtils::MakeMaker compile helper utility

Question

Can I persuade EU::MM to compile a helper utility without looking for XS to build?

For example, given the following:

  Makefile.PL
  helper.c
  example.pl
  lib/App/Example.pm

... a make on the generated Makefile tries to work with a dynamic library:

$:- cat Makefile.PL
use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;
WriteMakefile(
  NAME              => 'App::Example',
  VERSION_FROM      => 'lib/App/Example.pm', # finds $VERSION
);
$:- perl Makefile.PL 
Checking if your kit is complete...
Looks good
Writing Makefile for App::Example
$:- make
cp lib/App/Example.pm blib/lib/App/Example.pm
AutoSplitting blib/lib/App/Example.pm (blib/lib/auto/App/Example)
Running Mkbootstrap for App::Example ()
chmod 644 Example.bs
rm -f blib/arch/auto/App/Example/Example.so
gcc  -shared .... Example.o  -o blib/arch/auto/App/Example/Example.so   \
        \

gcc: Example.o: No such file or directory
gcc: no input files
make: *** [blib/arch/auto/App/Example/Example.so] Error 1

What I'd ultimately like is to have helper built and installed under /usr/bin, example.pl under /usr/sbin, and App::Example under $Config{vendorlib}. However, I need the pure perl modules "built" correctly first. Playing with C and EXE_FILES directives didn't change this behavior.