diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/elinks/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/elinks/default.nix
index cc34318edf3..b60454c4a42 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/elinks/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/elinks/default.nix
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, perl, ncurses, xlibsWrapper, bzip2, zlib, openssl
-, spidermonkey_1_8_5, gpm
-, enableGuile ? false, guile ? null   # Incompatible licenses, LGPLv3 - GPLv2
-, enablePython ? false, python ? null
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, ncurses, xlibsWrapper, bzip2, zlib, openssl
+, gpm
+, # Incompatible licenses, LGPLv3 - GPLv2
+  enableGuile        ? false,                                         guile ? null
+, enablePython       ? false,                                         python ? null
+, enablePerl         ? (stdenv.hostPlatform == stdenv.buildPlatform), perl ? null
+, enableSpidermonkey ? (stdenv.hostPlatform == stdenv.buildPlatform), spidermonkey_1_8_5 ? null
 }:
 
 assert enableGuile -> guile != null;
@@ -17,28 +20,26 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   patches = [ ./gc-init.patch ];
 
-  buildInputs = [ perl ncurses xlibsWrapper bzip2 zlib openssl spidermonkey_1_8_5 gpm ]
+  buildInputs = [ ncurses xlibsWrapper bzip2 zlib openssl spidermonkey_1_8_5 gpm ]
     ++ stdenv.lib.optional enableGuile guile
-    ++ stdenv.lib.optional enablePython python;
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optional enablePython python
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optional enablePerl perl
+    ;
 
-  configureFlags =
-    ''
-      --enable-finger --enable-html-highlight
-      --with-perl --enable-gopher --enable-cgi --enable-bittorrent
-      --with-spidermonkey=${spidermonkey_1_8_5}
-      --enable-nntp --with-openssl=${openssl.dev}
-    '' + stdenv.lib.optionalString enableGuile " --with-guile"
-    + stdenv.lib.optionalString enablePython " --with-python";
-
-  crossAttrs = {
-    propagatedBuildInputs = [ ncurses.crossDrv zlib.crossDrv openssl.crossDrv ];
-    configureFlags = ''
-      --enable-finger --enable-html-highlight
-      --enable-gopher --enable-cgi --enable-bittorrent --enable-nntp
-      --with-openssl=${openssl.crossDrv}
-      --with-bzip2=${bzip2.crossDrv}
-    '';
-  };
+  configureFlags = [
+    "--enable-finger"
+    "--enable-html-highlight"
+    "--enable-gopher"
+    "--enable-cgi"
+    "--enable-bittorrent"
+    "--enable-nntp"
+    "--with-openssl=${openssl.dev}"
+    "--with-bzip2=${bzip2.dev}"
+  ] ++ stdenv.lib.optional enableGuile        "--with-guile"
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optional enablePython       "--with-python"
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optional enablePerl         "--with-perl"
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optional enableSpidermonkey "--with-spidermonkey=${spidermonkey_1_8_5}"
+    ;
 
   meta = {
     description = "Full-featured text-mode web browser";