diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/fetchurl/mirrors.nix b/pkgs/build-support/fetchurl/mirrors.nix
index bf0ec26ec57..bdac312667b 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/fetchurl/mirrors.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/fetchurl/mirrors.nix
@@ -121,7 +121,6 @@ rec {
     ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/
   ];
 
-
   # Ubuntu.
   ubuntu = [
     http://nl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/package-management/dpkg/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/package-management/dpkg/default.nix
index e7eeff0d004..40f04d75bbb 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/package-management/dpkg/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/package-management/dpkg/default.nix
@@ -10,6 +10,19 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   configureFlags = "--without-dselect"; #  --with-admindir=/var/lib/dpkg
 
+  preConfigure = ''
+    # Can't use substitute pending resolution of NIXPKGS-89.
+    sed -s 's^/usr/bin/perl^${perl}/bin/perl^' -i scripts/dpkg-architecture.pl
+
+    # Nice: dpkg has a circular dependency on itself.  Its configure
+    # script calls scripts/dpkg-architecture, which calls "dpkg" in
+    # $PATH.  It doesn't actually use its result, but fails if it
+    # isn't present.  So make a dummy available.
+    touch $TMPDIR/dpkg
+    chmod +x $TMPDIR/dpkg
+    PATH=$TMPDIR:$PATH
+  '';
+
   buildInputs = [perl zlib bzip2];
 
   meta = {