diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/5.16/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/5.16/default.nix
index 087411c02ea..d55174d29d1 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/5.16/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/5.16/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,16 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, enableThreading ? true }:
+
+# We can only compile perl with threading on platforms where we have a
+# real glibc in the stdenv.
+#
+# Instead of silently building an unthreaded perl if this is not the
+# case, we force callers to disableThreading explicitly, therefore
+# documenting the platforms where the perl is not threaded.
+#
+# In the case of stdenv linux boot stage1 it's not possible to use
+# threading because of the simpleness of the bootstrap glibc, so we
+# use enableThreading = false there.
+assert enableThreading -> (stdenv ? glibc);
 
 let
 
@@ -42,7 +54,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
       "-Dlocincpth=${libc}/include"
       "-Dloclibpth=${libc}/lib"
     ]
-    ++ optional (stdenv ? glibc) "-Dusethreads";
+    ++ optional enableThreading "-Dusethreads";
 
   configureScript = "${stdenv.shell} ./Configure";
 
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/5.20/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/5.20/default.nix
index d9fb32aa43e..45eb8993b6f 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/5.20/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/5.20/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,16 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, enableThreading ? true }:
+
+# We can only compile perl with threading on platforms where we have a
+# real glibc in the stdenv.
+#
+# Instead of silently building an unthreaded perl if this is not the
+# case, we force callers to disableThreading explicitly, therefore
+# documenting the platforms where the perl is not threaded.
+#
+# In the case of stdenv linux boot stage1 it's not possible to use
+# threading because of the simpleness of the bootstrap glibc, so we
+# use enableThreading = false there.
+assert enableThreading -> (stdenv ? glibc);
 
 let
 
@@ -39,7 +51,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
       "-Dlocincpth=${libc}/include"
       "-Dloclibpth=${libc}/lib"
     ]
-    ++ optional (stdenv ? glibc) "-Dusethreads";
+    ++ optional enableThreading "-Dusethreads";
 
   configureScript = "${stdenv.shell} ./Configure";
 
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/linux/default.nix b/pkgs/stdenv/linux/default.nix
index b5e92fb8e1c..0dd7271b1b6 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/linux/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/linux/default.nix
@@ -169,8 +169,12 @@ rec {
       binutils = pkgs.binutils.override { gold = false; };
       inherit (stage0.pkgs) glibc;
 
-      # TODO(errge) This was accidentally like this historically, most probably not needed
-      perl = pkgs.perl.override { stdenv = stage1.stdenv.override { extraAttrs = { inherit platform; }; }; };
+      # A threaded perl build needs glibc/libpthread_nonshared.a,
+      # which is not included in bootstrapTools, so disable threading.
+      # This is not an issue for the final stdenv, because this perl
+      # won't be included in the final stdenv and won't be exported to
+      # top-level pkgs as an override either.
+      perl = pkgs.perl.override { enableThreading = false; };
     };
   };