diff --git a/network/irssi/irssi.conf b/network/irssi/irssi.conf
index 632d4428c..d8d5d699c 100644
--- a/network/irssi/irssi.conf
+++ b/network/irssi/irssi.conf
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 # This copyright note is auto-generated by ./scripts/Create-CopyPatch.
 #
 # Filename: package/.../irssi/irssi.conf
+# Copyright (C) 2011 The OpenSDE Project
 # Copyright (C) 2004 - 2006 The T2 SDE Project
 #
 # More information can be found in the files COPYING and README.
@@ -18,4 +19,14 @@ var_append extraconfopt ' ' '--with-ncurses'
 pkginstalled glib ||
 	abort "You need GLIB installed to be able to build and run irssi"
 
-. $base/package/*/perl/perllocal_hack.sh
+# perl support
+if pkginstalled -f perl; then
+	var_append extraconfopt ' ' "--with-perl=module"
+
+	# install into 'vendor' directory
+	var_append extraconfopt ' ' "--with-perl-lib=vendor"
+
+	. $base/package/*/perl/perllocal_hack.sh
+else
+	var_append extraconfopt ' ' "--without-perl"
+fi