diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 62a4850d8..960685b8f 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ makefiles = \
   src/nix-channel/local.mk \
   src/nix-build/local.mk \
   src/build-remote/local.mk \
-  perl/local.mk \
   scripts/local.mk \
   corepkgs/local.mk \
   misc/systemd/local.mk \
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index e6b11be2d..5d5f1d2be 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -121,7 +121,6 @@ AC_PATH_PROG(xmllint, xmllint, false)
 AC_PATH_PROG(xsltproc, xsltproc, false)
 AC_PATH_PROG(flex, flex, false)
 AC_PATH_PROG(bison, bison, false)
-NEED_PROG(perl, perl)
 NEED_PROG(sed, sed)
 NEED_PROG(tar, tar)
 NEED_PROG(bzip2, bzip2)
@@ -131,23 +130,6 @@ AC_PATH_PROG(dot, dot)
 AC_PATH_PROG(pv, pv, pv)
 
 
-# Test that Perl has the open/fork feature (Perl 5.8.0 and beyond).
-AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether Perl is recent enough])
-if ! $perl -e 'open(FOO, "-|", "true"); while (<FOO>) { print; }; close FOO or die;'; then
-    AC_MSG_RESULT(no)
-    AC_MSG_ERROR([Your Perl version is too old.  Nix requires Perl 5.8.0 or newer.])
-fi
-AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
-
-
-# Figure out where to install Perl modules.
-AC_MSG_CHECKING([for the Perl installation prefix])
-perlversion=$($perl -e 'use Config; print $Config{version};')
-perlarchname=$($perl -e 'use Config; print $Config{archname};')
-AC_SUBST(perllibdir, [${libdir}/perl5/site_perl/$perlversion/$perlarchname])
-AC_MSG_RESULT($perllibdir)
-
-
 NEED_PROG(cat, cat)
 NEED_PROG(tr, tr)
 AC_ARG_WITH(coreutils-bin, AC_HELP_STRING([--with-coreutils-bin=PATH],
@@ -213,40 +195,6 @@ if test "$gc" = yes; then
 fi
 
 
-# Check for the required Perl dependencies (DBI, DBD::SQLite).
-perlFlags="-I$perllibdir"
-
-AC_ARG_WITH(dbi, AC_HELP_STRING([--with-dbi=PATH],
-  [prefix of the Perl DBI library]),
-  perlFlags="$perlFlags -I$withval")
-
-AC_ARG_WITH(dbd-sqlite, AC_HELP_STRING([--with-dbd-sqlite=PATH],
-  [prefix of the Perl DBD::SQLite library]),
-  perlFlags="$perlFlags -I$withval")
-
-AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether DBD::SQLite works])
-if ! $perl $perlFlags -e 'use DBI; use DBD::SQLite;' 2>&5; then
-    AC_MSG_RESULT(no)
-    AC_MSG_FAILURE([The Perl modules DBI and/or DBD::SQLite are missing.])
-fi
-AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
-
-AC_SUBST(perlFlags)
-
-
-# Whether to build the Perl bindings
-AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether to build the Perl bindings])
-AC_ARG_ENABLE(perl-bindings, AC_HELP_STRING([--enable-perl-bindings],
-  [whether to build the Perl bindings (recommended) [default=yes]]),
-  perlbindings=$enableval, perlbindings=yes)
-if test "$enable_shared" = no; then
-   # Perl bindings require shared libraries.
-   perlbindings=no
-fi
-AC_SUBST(perlbindings)
-AC_MSG_RESULT($perlbindings)
-
-
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(init-state, AC_HELP_STRING([--disable-init-state],
   [do not initialise DB etc. in `make install']),
   init_state=$enableval, init_state=yes)
diff --git a/doc/manual/advanced-topics/distributed-builds.xml b/doc/manual/advanced-topics/distributed-builds.xml
index f85837003..d5bc1c592 100644
--- a/doc/manual/advanced-topics/distributed-builds.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/advanced-topics/distributed-builds.xml
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ purposes.  It uses <command>ssh</command> and
 <command>nix-copy-closure</command> to copy the build inputs and
 outputs and perform the remote build.  To use it, you should set
 <envar>NIX_BUILD_HOOK</envar> to
-<filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/libexec/nix/build-remote.pl</filename>.
+<filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/libexec/nix/build-remote</filename>.
 You should also define a list of available build machines and point
 the environment variable <envar>NIX_REMOTE_SYSTEMS</envar> to
 it. <envar>NIX_REMOTE_SYSTEMS</envar> must be an absolute path. An
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ bits of information:
   should not have a passphrase!</para></listitem>
 
   <listitem><para>The maximum number of builds that
-  <filename>build-remote.pl</filename> will execute in parallel on the
+  <filename>build-remote</filename> will execute in parallel on the
   machine.  Typically this should be equal to the number of CPU cores.
   For instance, the machine <literal>itchy</literal> in the example
   will execute up to 8 builds in parallel.</para></listitem>
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ bits of information:
   <listitem><para>A comma-separated list of <emphasis>supported
   features</emphasis>.  If a derivation has the
   <varname>requiredSystemFeatures</varname> attribute, then
-  <filename>build-remote.pl</filename> will only perform the
+  <filename>build-remote</filename> will only perform the
   derivation on a machine that has the specified features.  For
   instance, the attribute
 
@@ -106,11 +106,11 @@ requiredSystemFeatures = [ "kvm" ];
 You should also set up the environment variable
 <envar>NIX_CURRENT_LOAD</envar> to point at a directory (e.g.,
 <filename>/var/run/nix/current-load</filename>) that
-<filename>build-remote.pl</filename> uses to remember how many builds
+<filename>build-remote</filename> uses to remember how many builds
 it is currently executing remotely.  It doesn't look at the actual
 load on the remote machine, so if you have multiple instances of Nix
 running, they should use the same <envar>NIX_CURRENT_LOAD</envar>
-file.  Maybe in the future <filename>build-remote.pl</filename> will
+file.  Maybe in the future <filename>build-remote</filename> will
 look at the actual remote load.</para>
 
 </chapter>
diff --git a/release.nix b/release.nix
index ace0f9cc8..7bfde71a6 100644
--- a/release.nix
+++ b/release.nix
@@ -24,18 +24,14 @@ let
         inherit officialRelease;
 
         buildInputs =
-          [ curl bison flex perl libxml2 libxslt bzip2 xz
+          [ curl bison flex libxml2 libxslt bzip2 xz
             pkgconfig sqlite libsodium boehmgc
             docbook5 docbook5_xsl
             autoconf-archive
             git
           ];
 
-        configureFlags = ''
-          --with-dbi=${perlPackages.DBI}/${perl.libPrefix}
-          --with-dbd-sqlite=${perlPackages.DBDSQLite}/${perl.libPrefix}
-          --enable-gc
-        '';
+	configureFlags = "--enable-gc";
 
         postUnpack = ''
           # Clean up when building from a working tree.
@@ -73,7 +69,7 @@ let
         src = tarball;
 
         buildInputs =
-          [ curl perl bzip2 xz openssl pkgconfig sqlite boehmgc ]
+          [ curl bzip2 xz openssl pkgconfig sqlite boehmgc ]
           ++ lib.optional stdenv.isLinux libsodium
           ++ lib.optional stdenv.isLinux
             (aws-sdk-cpp.override {
@@ -83,8 +79,6 @@ let
 
         configureFlags = ''
           --disable-init-state
-          --with-dbi=${perlPackages.DBI}/${perl.libPrefix}
-          --with-dbd-sqlite=${perlPackages.DBDSQLite}/${perl.libPrefix}
           --enable-gc
           --sysconfdir=/etc
         '';
@@ -147,15 +141,13 @@ let
         src = tarball;
 
         buildInputs =
-          [ curl perl bzip2 openssl pkgconfig sqlite xz libsodium
+          [ curl bzip2 openssl pkgconfig sqlite xz libsodium
             # These are for "make check" only:
             graphviz libxml2 libxslt
           ];
 
         configureFlags = ''
           --disable-init-state
-          --with-dbi=${perlPackages.DBI}/${perl.libPrefix}
-          --with-dbd-sqlite=${perlPackages.DBDSQLite}/${perl.libPrefix}
         '';
 
         dontInstall = false;
@@ -282,7 +274,7 @@ let
       src = jobs.tarball;
       diskImage = (diskImageFun vmTools.diskImageFuns)
         { extraPackages =
-            [ "perl-DBD-SQLite" "perl-devel" "sqlite" "sqlite-devel" "bzip2-devel" "emacs" "libcurl-devel" "openssl-devel" "xz-devel" ]
+            [ "sqlite" "sqlite-devel" "bzip2-devel" "emacs" "libcurl-devel" "openssl-devel" "xz-devel" ]
             ++ extraPackages; };
       memSize = 1024;
       meta.schedulingPriority = 50;
@@ -303,14 +295,14 @@ let
       src = jobs.tarball;
       diskImage = (diskImageFun vmTools.diskImageFuns)
         { extraPackages =
-            [ "libdbd-sqlite3-perl" "libsqlite3-dev" "libbz2-dev" "libwww-curl-perl" "libcurl-dev" "libcurl3-nss" "libssl-dev" "liblzma-dev" ]
+            [ "libsqlite3-dev" "libbz2-dev" "libcurl-dev" "libcurl3-nss" "libssl-dev" "liblzma-dev" ]
             ++ extraPackages; };
       memSize = 1024;
       meta.schedulingPriority = 50;
       postInstall = "make installcheck";
       configureFlags = "--sysconfdir=/etc";
       debRequires =
-        [ "curl" "libdbd-sqlite3-perl" "libsqlite3-0" "libbz2-1.0" "bzip2" "xz-utils" "libwww-curl-perl" "libssl1.0.0" "liblzma5" ]
+        [ "curl" "libsqlite3-0" "libbz2-1.0" "bzip2" "xz-utils" "libssl1.0.0" "liblzma5" ]
         ++ extraDebPackages;
       debMaintainer = "Eelco Dolstra <eelco.dolstra@logicblox.com>";
       doInstallCheck = true;
diff --git a/src/nix-store/nix-store.cc b/src/nix-store/nix-store.cc
index 0aabe66c5..7dda6d208 100644
--- a/src/nix-store/nix-store.cc
+++ b/src/nix-store/nix-store.cc
@@ -926,7 +926,7 @@ static void opServe(Strings opFlags, Strings opArgs)
                 break;
             }
 
-            case cmdBuildPaths: { /* Used by build-remote.pl. */
+            case cmdBuildPaths: {
 
                 if (!writeAllowed) throw Error("building paths is not allowed");
                 PathSet paths = readStorePaths<PathSet>(*store, in);
diff --git a/tests/optimise-store.sh b/tests/optimise-store.sh
index ea4478693..bd88662bc 100644
--- a/tests/optimise-store.sh
+++ b/tests/optimise-store.sh
@@ -5,14 +5,14 @@ clearStore
 outPath1=$(echo 'with import ./config.nix; mkDerivation { name = "foo1"; builder = builtins.toFile "builder" "mkdir $out; echo hello > $out/foo"; }' | nix-build - --no-out-link --option auto-optimise-store true)
 outPath2=$(echo 'with import ./config.nix; mkDerivation { name = "foo2"; builder = builtins.toFile "builder" "mkdir $out; echo hello > $out/foo"; }' | nix-build - --no-out-link --option auto-optimise-store true)
 
-inode1="$(perl -e "print ((lstat('$outPath1/foo'))[1])")"
-inode2="$(perl -e "print ((lstat('$outPath2/foo'))[1])")"
+inode1="$(stat --format=%i $outPath1/foo)"
+inode2="$(stat --format=%i $outPath2/foo)"
 if [ "$inode1" != "$inode2" ]; then
     echo "inodes do not match"
     exit 1
 fi
 
-nlink="$(perl -e "print ((lstat('$outPath1/foo'))[3])")"
+nlink="$(stat --format=%h $outPath1/foo)"
 if [ "$nlink" != 3 ]; then
     echo "link count incorrect"
     exit 1
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ fi
 
 outPath3=$(echo 'with import ./config.nix; mkDerivation { name = "foo3"; builder = builtins.toFile "builder" "mkdir $out; echo hello > $out/foo"; }' | nix-build - --no-out-link)
 
-inode3="$(perl -e "print ((lstat('$outPath3/foo'))[1])")"
+inode3="$(stat --format=%i $outPath3/foo)"
 if [ "$inode1" = "$inode3" ]; then
     echo "inodes match unexpectedly"
     exit 1
@@ -28,8 +28,8 @@ fi
 
 nix-store --optimise
 
-inode1="$(perl -e "print ((lstat('$outPath1/foo'))[1])")"
-inode3="$(perl -e "print ((lstat('$outPath3/foo'))[1])")"
+inode1="$(stat --format=%i $outPath1/foo)"
+inode3="$(stat --format=%i $outPath3/foo)"
 if [ "$inode1" != "$inode3" ]; then
     echo "inodes do not match"
     exit 1