diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/ccache/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/ccache/default.nix
index f7d2dfc4957c..0762d175e89d 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/ccache/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/ccache/default.nix
@@ -1,23 +1,24 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, runCommand, gcc, perl, zlib }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, runCommand, gcc, zlib }:
 
 let
   # TODO: find out if there's harm in just using 'rec' instead.
   name = "ccache-${version}";
   version = "3.2.2";
   sha256 = "1jm0qb3h5sypllaiyj81zp6m009vm50hzjnx994ril94kxlrj3ag";
-  doCheck = true;
 
   ccache =
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
-  inherit name doCheck;
+  inherit name;
   src = fetchurl {
     inherit sha256;
     url = "mirror://samba/ccache/${name}.tar.xz";
   };
 
-  # The test dependency on perl should be gone in the next release:
-  buildInputs = [ zlib ]
-    ++ stdenv.lib.optionals doCheck [ perl ];
+  patches = [ ./test-drop-perl-requirement.patch ];
+
+  buildInputs = [ zlib ];
+
+  doCheck = true;
 
   passthru = {
     # A derivation that provides gcc and g++ commands, but that
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/ccache/test-drop-perl-requirement.patch b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/ccache/test-drop-perl-requirement.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..ca4c39edc300
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/ccache/test-drop-perl-requirement.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+Since perl is used in just one place and can easily be replaced by a
+little bit of shell, do so.  This makes testing on limited systems
+easier.
+
+Signed-off-by: Mike Frysinger <vapier@gentoo.org>
+---
+ INSTALL.txt | 1 -
+ test.sh     | 2 +-
+ 2 files changed, 1 insertion(+), 2 deletions(-)
+
+diff --git a/INSTALL.txt b/INSTALL.txt
+index 256beab..f77cbe6 100644
+--- a/INSTALL.txt
++++ b/INSTALL.txt
+@@ -67,7 +67,6 @@ In addition to the prerequisites mentioned above, you also need:
+
+ To debug and run the performance test suite you'll also need:
+
+-- Perl (http://www.perl.org/)
+ - Python (http://www.python.org/)
+
+ Run "./autogen.sh" and then follow the steps mentioned under "Installation"
+diff --git a/test.sh b/test.sh
+index f14e287..1090649 100755
+--- a/test.sh
++++ b/test.sh
+@@ -1834,7 +1834,7 @@ prepare_cleanup_test() {
+     mkdir -p $dir
+     i=0
+     while [ $i -lt 10 ]; do
+-        perl -e 'print "A" x 4017' >$dir/result$i-4017.o
++        printf '%4017s' '' | tr ' ' 'A' >$dir/result$i-4017.o
+         touch $dir/result$i-4017.stderr
+         touch $dir/result$i-4017.d
+         if [ $i -gt 5 ]; then
+--