diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/builder.sh b/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/builder.sh
index 7a925e6dbfd8..09ffd1c16a84 100755
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/builder.sh
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/builder.sh
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
-#! /bin/sh
+#! /bin/sh -e
 
-. $stdenv/setup || exit 1
+buildinputs="$patch"
+. $stdenv/setup
 
-tar xvfz $src || exit 1
-cd perl-* || exit 1
+tar xvfz $src
+cd perl-*
 
 # Perl's Configure messes with PATH.  We can't have that, so we patch it.
 # Yeah, this is an ugly hack.
@@ -14,13 +15,14 @@ cat Configure | \
  grep -v '^glibpth=' | \
  grep -v '^loclibpth=' | \
  grep -v '^locincpth=' | \
- cat > Configure.tmp || exit 1
-mv Configure.tmp Configure || exit 1
-chmod +x Configure || exit 1
+ cat > Configure.tmp
+mv Configure.tmp Configure
+chmod +x Configure
+
+patch -p1 < $srcPatch
 
 ./Configure -de -Dcc=gcc -Dprefix=$out -Uinstallusrbinperl \
  -Dlocincpth="$NIX_LIBC_INCLUDES" \
- -Dloclibpth="$NIX_LIBC_LIBS" \
- || exit 1
-make || exit 1
-make install || exit 1
+ -Dloclibpth="$NIX_LIBC_LIBS"
+make
+make install
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/default.nix
index 8d9fa7f610d3..26f44b9ef81c 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/default.nix
@@ -1,10 +1,23 @@
-{stdenv, fetchurl}: derivation {
-  name = "perl-5.8.0";
+{stdenv, fetchurl, patch}:
+
+derivation {
+  name = "perl-5.8.3";
   system = stdenv.system;
+
   builder = ./builder.sh;
   src = fetchurl {
-      url = ftp://ftp.cs.uu.nl/mirror/CPAN/src/5.0/perl-5.8.1.tar.gz;
-      md5 = "87cf132f1fbf23e780f0b218046438a6";
-    };
-  stdenv = stdenv;
+    url = ftp://ftp.cs.uu.nl/mirror/CPAN/src/5.0/perl-5.8.3.tar.gz;
+    md5 = "6d2b389f8c6424b7af303f417947714f";
+  };
+
+  # This patch does the following:
+  # 1) Do use the PATH environment variable to find the `pwd' command.
+  #    By default, Perl will only look for it in /lib and /usr/lib.
+  #    !!! what are the security implications of this?
+  # 2) Force the use of <errno.h>, not /usr/include/errno.h, on Linux
+  #    systems.  (This actually appears to be due to a bug in Perl.)
+
+  srcPatch = ./patch;
+
+  inherit stdenv patch;
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/patch b/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..f3dfd9bd6f31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/patch
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+diff -rc perl-5.8.3-orig/ext/Errno/Errno_pm.PL perl-5.8.3/ext/Errno/Errno_pm.PL
+*** perl-5.8.3-orig/ext/Errno/Errno_pm.PL	2003-08-04 09:37:13.000000000 +0200
+--- perl-5.8.3/ext/Errno/Errno_pm.PL	2004-02-20 16:59:05.000000000 +0100
+***************
+*** 105,111 ****
+  	# Watch out for cross compiling for EPOC (usually done on linux)
+  	$file{'/usr/local/epocemx/epocsdk/include/libc/sys/errno.h'} = 1;
+      } elsif ($^O eq 'linux' &&
+! 	     $Config{gccversion} ne '' # might be using, say, Intel's icc
+  	     ) {
+  	# Some Linuxes have weird errno.hs which generate
+  	# no #file or #line directives
+--- 105,111 ----
+  	# Watch out for cross compiling for EPOC (usually done on linux)
+  	$file{'/usr/local/epocemx/epocsdk/include/libc/sys/errno.h'} = 1;
+      } elsif ($^O eq 'linux' &&
+! 	     $Config{gccversion} eq '' # might be using, say, Intel's icc
+  	     ) {
+  	# Some Linuxes have weird errno.hs which generate
+  	# no #file or #line directives
+Only in perl-5.8.3/ext/Errno: Errno_pm.PL~
+diff -rc perl-5.8.3-orig/lib/Cwd.pm perl-5.8.3/lib/Cwd.pm
+*** perl-5.8.3-orig/lib/Cwd.pm	2003-12-20 00:05:30.000000000 +0100
+--- perl-5.8.3/lib/Cwd.pm	2004-02-20 16:58:16.000000000 +0100
+***************
+*** 201,207 ****
+  
+  # The 'natural and safe form' for UNIX (pwd may be setuid root)
+  sub _backtick_pwd {
+!     local @ENV{qw(PATH IFS CDPATH ENV BASH_ENV)};
+      my $cwd = `$pwd_cmd`;
+      # Belt-and-suspenders in case someone said "undef $/".
+      local $/ = "\n";
+--- 201,207 ----
+  
+  # The 'natural and safe form' for UNIX (pwd may be setuid root)
+  sub _backtick_pwd {
+!     local @ENV{qw(IFS CDPATH ENV BASH_ENV)};
+      my $cwd = `$pwd_cmd`;
+      # Belt-and-suspenders in case someone said "undef $/".
+      local $/ = "\n";
+Only in perl-5.8.3/lib: Cwd.pm~
diff --git a/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix b/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix
index 00685c545e0e..9aae5bb607f2 100644
--- a/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix
+++ b/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix
@@ -232,6 +232,7 @@
 
   perl = (import ../development/interpreters/perl) {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv;
+    patch = gnupatch;
   };
 
   python = (import ../development/interpreters/python) {