diff --git a/srcpkgs/etckeeper/template b/srcpkgs/etckeeper/template
index cebc803fb0a..9e0e5113048 100644
--- a/srcpkgs/etckeeper/template
+++ b/srcpkgs/etckeeper/template
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 pkgname=etckeeper
 version=1.18.6
 revision=1
-depends="git"
+depends="git perl"
 conf_files="/etc/etckeeper/etckeeper.conf"
 build_style='gnu-makefile'
 hostmakedepends="python bzrtools"