diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/octave/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/octave/default.nix
index 150eaadc6e2c..9eb6ce2699f7 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/octave/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/octave/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{stdenv, fetchurl, g77, readline, ncurses}:
+{stdenv, fetchurl, g77, readline, ncurses, perl}:
 
 assert readline != null && ncurses != null;
 assert g77.langF77;
@@ -9,6 +9,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     url = ftp://ftp.octave.org/pub/octave/bleeding-edge/octave-2.1.60.tar.bz2;
     md5 = "d332151ada009a14e4e4e37521a4ccfa";
   };
-  buildInputs = [g77 readline ncurses];
+  buildInputs = [g77 readline ncurses perl];
   configureFlags = "--enable-readline --enable-dl --disable-static --enable-shared";
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix b/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix
index 75077c923f0e..438adcbae20d 100644
--- a/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix
+++ b/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ rec {
   };
 
   octave = (import ../development/interpreters/octave) {
-    inherit fetchurl stdenv readline ncurses g77;
+    inherit fetchurl stdenv readline ncurses g77 perl;
   };
 
   gnumake = (import ../development/tools/build-managers/gnumake) {