diff --git a/pkgs/tools/misc/mc/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/misc/mc/default.nix
index 3b12175fb567..c2425cf94cab 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/misc/mc/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/misc/mc/default.nix
@@ -46,14 +46,13 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     libX11
     libssh2
     openssl
-    perl
     slang
     zip
   ] ++ lib.optionals (!stdenv.isDarwin) [ e2fsprogs gpm ];
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
-  configureFlags = [ "--enable-vfs-smb" ];
+  configureFlags = [ "--enable-vfs-smb" "PERL=${perl}/bin/perl" ];
 
   postPatch = ''
     substituteInPlace src/filemanager/ext.c \