diff --git a/pkgs/development/perl-modules/generic/default.nix b/pkgs/development/perl-modules/generic/default.nix
index 77d881b2eb0..91b0500eeaa 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/perl-modules/generic/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/perl-modules/generic/default.nix
@@ -5,7 +5,16 @@ attrs:
 perl.stdenv.mkDerivation (
   {
     doCheck = true;
+    
     checkTarget = "test";
+    
+    # Prevent CPAN downloads.
+    PERL_AUTOINSTALL = "--skipdeps";
+
+    # From http://wiki.cpantesters.org/wiki/CPANAuthorNotes: "allows
+    # authors to skip certain tests (or include certain tests) when
+    # the results are not being monitored by a human being."
+    AUTOMATED_TESTING = true;
   }
   //
   attrs