diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/texinfo/5.2.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/texinfo/5.2.nix
index 571af764fcf..0feb4b943df 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/texinfo/5.2.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/texinfo/5.2.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, ncurses, perl, xz, procps, interactive ? false }:
+{ stdenv, buildPackages, fetchurl, ncurses, perl, xz, procps, interactive ? false }:
 
 with stdenv.lib;
 
@@ -10,10 +10,17 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "1njfwh2z34r2c4r0iqa7v24wmjzvsfyz4vplzry8ln3479lfywal";
   };
 
+  # We need a native compiler to build perl XS extensions
+  # when cross-compiling.
+  depsBuildBuild = [ buildPackages.stdenv.cc perl ];
+
   buildInputs = [ perl xz.bin ]
     ++ optional interactive ncurses
     ++ optional doCheck procps; # for tests
 
+  configureFlags = [ "PERL=${buildPackages.perl}/bin/perl" ]
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isSunOS "AWK=${gawk}/bin/awk";
+
   preInstall = ''
     installFlags="TEXMF=$out/texmf-dist";
     installTargets="install install-tex";
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/texinfo/6.5.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/texinfo/6.5.nix
index 4691df6917b..afa7e9a0a20 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/texinfo/6.5.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/texinfo/6.5.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, ncurses, perl, xz, libiconv, gawk, procps, interactive ? false }:
+{ stdenv, buildPackages, fetchurl, ncurses, perl, xz, libiconv, gawk, procps, interactive ? false }:
 
 with stdenv.lib;
 
@@ -10,12 +10,17 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "0qjzvbvnv9003xdrcpi3jp7y68j4hq2ciw9frh2hghh698zlnxvp";
   };
 
-  buildInputs = [ perl xz ]
+  # We need a native compiler to build perl XS extensions
+  # when cross-compiling.
+  depsBuildBuild = [ buildPackages.stdenv.cc perl ];
+
+  buildInputs = [ xz ]
     ++ optionals stdenv.isSunOS [ libiconv gawk ]
     ++ optional interactive ncurses
     ++ optional doCheck procps; # for tests
 
-  configureFlags = stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isSunOS "AWK=${gawk}/bin/awk";
+  configureFlags = [ "PERL=${buildPackages.perl}/bin/perl" ]
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isSunOS "AWK=${gawk}/bin/awk";
 
   preInstall = ''
     installFlags="TEXMF=$out/texmf-dist";