Theoretically we could sync libxml2 from experimental for raring, but unfortunately it FTBFS with this error message:
libtool: compile: cc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I../.. -I./include -I../../include -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -g -O2 -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -Wformat -Werror=format-security -Wall -pedantic -W -Wformat -Wunused -Wimplicit -Wreturn-type -Wswitch -Wcomment -Wtrigraphs -Wformat -Wchar-subscripts -Wuninitialized -Wparentheses -Wshadow -Wpointer-arith -Wcast-align -Wwrite-strings -Waggregate-return -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -Wnested-externs -Winline -Wredundant-decls -Wno-long-long -c ../../xzlib.c -fPIE -o xzlib.o >/dev/null 2>&1
/bin/bash ./libtool --tag=CC --mode=link cc -g -O2 -fPIE -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -Wformat -Werror=format-security -Wall -pedantic -W -Wformat -Wunused -Wimplicit -Wreturn-type -Wswitch -Wcomment -Wtrigraphs -Wformat -Wchar-subscripts -Wuninitialized -Wparentheses -Wshadow -Wpointer-arith -Wcast-align -Wwrite-strings -Waggregate-return -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -Wnested-externs -Winline -Wredundant-decls -Wno-long-long -Wl,--version-script=../../libxml2.syms -version-info 11:0:9 -Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -fPIE -pie -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -Wl,--as-needed -o libxml2.la -rpath /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu SAX.lo entities.lo encoding.lo error.lo parserInternals.lo parser.lo tree.lo hash.lo list.lo xmlIO.lo xmlmemory.lo uri.lo valid.lo xlink.lo HTMLparser.lo HTMLtree.lo debugXML.lo xpath.lo xpointer.lo xinclude.lo nanohttp.lo nanoftp.lo catalog.lo globals.lo threads.lo c14n.lo xmlstring.lo buf.lo xmlregexp.lo xmlschemas.lo xmlschemastypes.lo xmlunicode.lo xmlreader.lo relaxng.lo dict.lo SAX2.lo xmlwriter.lo legacy.lo chvalid.lo pattern.lo xmlsave.lo xmlmodule.lo schematron.lo xzlib.lo -llzma -lm
libtool: link: cc -shared -fPIC -DPIC .libs/SAX.o .libs/entities.o .libs/encoding.o .libs/error.o .libs/parserInternals.o .libs/parser.o .libs/tree.o .libs/hash.o .libs/list.o .libs/xmlIO.o .libs/xmlmemory.o .libs/uri.o .libs/valid.o .libs/xlink.o .libs/HTMLparser.o .libs/HTMLtree.o .libs/debugXML.o .libs/xpath.o .libs/xpointer.o .libs/xinclude.o .libs/nanohttp.o .libs/nanoftp.o .libs/catalog.o .libs/globals.o .libs/threads.o .libs/c14n.o .libs/xmlstring.o .libs/buf.o .libs/xmlregexp.o .libs/xmlschemas.o .libs/xmlschemastypes.o .libs/xmlunicode.o .libs/xmlreader.o .libs/relaxng.o .libs/dict.o .libs/SAX2.o .libs/xmlwriter.o .libs/legacy.o .libs/chvalid.o .libs/pattern.o .libs/xmlsave.o .libs/xmlmodule.o .libs/schematron.o .libs/xzlib.o -llzma -lm -O2 -Wl,--version-script=../../libxml2.syms -Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -Wl,-z -Wl,relro -Wl,-z -Wl,now -Wl,--as-needed -Wl,-soname -Wl,libxml2.so.2 -o .libs/libxml2.so.2.9.0
/usr/bin/ld: .libs/xpath.o: relocation R_X86_64_PC32 against undefined symbol `xmlXPathCmpNodesExt' can not be used when making a shared object; recompile with -fPIC
/usr/bin/ld: final link failed: Bad value
Full build log is available at http://paste.ubuntu.com/1334398/ - it succeeds in sid and with sid+binutls-gold.
2.8.0+dfsg1- 5ubuntu2 and 2.8.0+dfsg1-6 still build fine in raring.
2.9.0+dfsg1-1 was the first to break.