diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/perl-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/perl-packages.nix
index b5bd77cd156f..4a2e2dedcc43 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/perl-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/perl-packages.nix
@@ -8032,6 +8032,11 @@ let
     };
     nativeBuildInputs = [ buildPackages.pkg-config ];
     propagatedBuildInputs = [ pkgs.pkg-config ];
+    postPatch = ''
+      # no pkg-config binary when cross-compiling so the check fails
+      substituteInPlace Makefile.PL \
+        --replace "pkg-config" "$PKG_CONFIG"
+    '';
     doCheck = false; # expects test_glib-2.0.pc in PKG_CONFIG_PATH
     meta = {
       homepage = "http://gtk2-perl.sourceforge.net";