diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/vm/deb/deb-closure.pl b/pkgs/build-support/vm/deb/deb-closure.pl
index 1d41f89218bd..887077037e28 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/vm/deb/deb-closure.pl
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/vm/deb/deb-closure.pl
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 use strict;
-use Dpkg::Cdata;
+use Dpkg::Control;
 use Dpkg::Deps;
 use File::Basename;
 
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ my $packagesFile = shift @ARGV;
 my $urlPrefix = shift @ARGV;
 my @toplevelPkgs = @ARGV;
 
+
 my %packages;
 
 
@@ -14,10 +15,10 @@ my %packages;
 open PACKAGES, "<$packagesFile" or die;
 
 while (1) {
-    my $cdata = parsecdata(\*PACKAGES, $packagesFile);
-    last unless defined $cdata;
-    #print $cdata->{Package}, "\n";
+    my $cdata = Dpkg::Control->new(type => CTRL_INFO_PKG);
+    last if not $cdata->parse(\*PACKAGES, $packagesFile);
     die unless defined $cdata->{Package};
+    #print STDERR $cdata->{Package}, "\n";
     $packages{$cdata->{Package}} = $cdata;
 }
 
@@ -50,7 +51,7 @@ my %provides;
 
 foreach my $cdata (values %packages) {
     next unless defined $cdata->{Provides};
-    my @provides = getDeps(Dpkg::Deps::parse($cdata->{Provides}));
+    my @provides = getDeps(Dpkg::Deps::deps_parse($cdata->{Provides}));
     foreach my $name (@provides) {
         #die "conflicting provide: $name\n" if defined $provides{$name};
         #warn "provide by $cdata->{Package} conflicts with package with the same name: $name\n";
@@ -83,7 +84,7 @@ sub closePackage {
     $donePkgs{$pkgName} = 1;
 
     if (defined $cdata->{Provides}) {
-        foreach my $name (getDeps(Dpkg::Deps::parse($cdata->{Provides}))) {
+        foreach my $name (getDeps(Dpkg::Deps::deps_parse($cdata->{Provides}))) {
             $provides{$name} = $cdata->{Package};
         }
     }
@@ -92,14 +93,14 @@ sub closePackage {
 
     if (defined $cdata->{Depends}) {
         print STDERR "    $pkgName: $cdata->{Depends}\n";
-        my $deps = Dpkg::Deps::parse($cdata->{Depends});
+        my $deps = Dpkg::Deps::deps_parse($cdata->{Depends});
         die unless defined $deps;
         push @depNames, getDeps($deps);
     }
 
     if (defined $cdata->{'Pre-Depends'}) {
         print STDERR "    $pkgName: $cdata->{'Pre-Depends'}\n";
-        my $deps = Dpkg::Deps::parse($cdata->{'Pre-Depends'});
+        my $deps = Dpkg::Deps::deps_parse($cdata->{'Pre-Depends'});
         die unless defined $deps;
         push @depNames, getDeps($deps);
     }
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/vm/default.nix b/pkgs/build-support/vm/default.nix
index e8de915e7889..4a543ba91fed 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/vm/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/vm/default.nix
@@ -761,7 +761,7 @@ rec {
   debClosureGenerator =
     {name, packagesLists, urlPrefix, packages}:
 
-    runCommand "${name}.nix" {} ''
+    runCommand "${name}.nix" { buildInputs = [ perl dpkg ]; } ''
       for i in ${toString packagesLists}; do
         echo "adding $i..."
         bunzip2 < $i >> ./Packages
@@ -770,7 +770,7 @@ rec {
       # Work around this bug: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=452279
       sed -i ./Packages -e s/x86_64-linux-gnu/x86-64-linux-gnu/g
 
-      ${perl}/bin/perl -I${dpkg} -w ${deb/deb-closure.pl} \
+      perl -w ${deb/deb-closure.pl} \
         ./Packages ${urlPrefix} ${toString packages} > $out
     '';