Get the source, in the file configure.in
replace the line:
AC_MSG_ERROR([You need at least libxml 2.8.0])
By
AC_MSG_NOTICE([You need at least libxml 2.8.0])
Then, do:
autoreconf -f -i -s
./configure
make
The configure
step will not stop. But i think if the developpers have restricted this version of libxml2
there must be a good reason.