diff --git a/srcpkgs/texinfo/template b/srcpkgs/texinfo/template
index 051efb94c09..8b1addad559 100644
--- a/srcpkgs/texinfo/template
+++ b/srcpkgs/texinfo/template
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ pkgname=texinfo
 version=6.7
 revision=1
 build_style=gnu-configure
-configure_args="--disable-static"
+configure_args="--disable-static --disable-perl-xs"
 hostmakedepends="perl ncurses-devel"
 makedepends="ncurses-devel"
 depends="gzip perl"
@@ -15,6 +15,11 @@ homepage="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/"
 distfiles="${GNU_SITE}/$pkgname/$pkgname-$version.tar.xz"
 checksum=988403c1542d15ad044600b909997ba3079b10e03224c61188117f3676b02caa
 
+if [ -z "$CROSS_BUILD" ]; then
+	# XXX fails with cross compilation
+	configure_args+=" --enable-perl-xs"
+fi
+
 post_install() {
 	rm -f ${DESTDIR}/usr/share/info/dir
 	# Compress manually info files.