diff --git a/package.nix b/package.nix
index 082627c49..1c943e046 100644
--- a/package.nix
+++ b/package.nix
@@ -316,6 +316,6 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   meta.platforms = lib.platforms.unix;
 
   passthru.perl-bindings = pkgs.callPackage ./perl {
-    inherit fileset stdenv;
+    inherit fileset stdenv buildWithMeson;
   };
 })
diff --git a/perl/default.nix b/perl/default.nix
index a1940402e..53666716e 100644
--- a/perl/default.nix
+++ b/perl/default.nix
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
 , perl, perlPackages
 , autoconf-archive, autoreconfHook, pkg-config
 , nix, curl, bzip2, xz, boost, libsodium, darwin
+, meson
+, ninja
+, buildWithMeson ? false,
 }:
 
 perl.pkgs.toPerlModule (stdenv.mkDerivation {
@@ -10,24 +13,33 @@ perl.pkgs.toPerlModule (stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   src = fileset.toSource {
     root = ../.;
-    fileset = fileset.unions [
+    fileset = fileset.unions ([
       ../.version
+      ./lib
+    ] ++ lib.optionals (!buildWithMeson) [
+      # FIXME(Qyriad): What the hell is this?
+      # What is it used for and do we still need it?
+      ./MANIFEST
       ../m4
       ../mk
-      ./MANIFEST
       ./Makefile
       ./Makefile.config.in
       ./configure.ac
-      ./lib
       ./local.mk
-    ];
+    ] ++ lib.optionals buildWithMeson [
+      ./meson.build
+    ]);
   };
 
-  nativeBuildInputs =
-    [ autoconf-archive
-      autoreconfHook
-      pkg-config
-    ];
+  nativeBuildInputs = [
+    pkg-config
+  ] ++ lib.optionals (!buildWithMeson) [
+    autoconf-archive
+    autoreconfHook
+  ] ++ lib.optionals buildWithMeson [
+    meson
+    ninja
+  ];
 
   buildInputs =
     [ nix
@@ -42,6 +54,9 @@ perl.pkgs.toPerlModule (stdenv.mkDerivation {
     ++ lib.optional (stdenv.isLinux || stdenv.isDarwin) libsodium
     ++ lib.optional stdenv.isDarwin darwin.apple_sdk.frameworks.Security;
 
+  # Nixpkgs' Meson hook likes to set this to "plain".
+  mesonBuildType = "debugoptimized";
+
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
   postUnpack = "sourceRoot=$sourceRoot/perl";
diff --git a/perl/lib/Nix/meson.build b/perl/lib/Nix/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6810622e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/perl/lib/Nix/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+store_xs_cpp = custom_target(
+  input : 'Store.xs',
+  output : 'Store.cc',
+  command : [
+    xsubpp,
+    '@INPUT@',
+    '-output',
+    '@OUTPUT@',
+  ],
+  build_by_default : true,
+)
+
+soname_args = []
+if cxx.get_linker_id() in ['ld.bfd', 'ld.gold']
+  soname_args = ['-Wl,-soname=Store.so']
+endif
+
+perl_libstore = shared_module(
+  'Store',
+  store_xs_cpp,
+  # This library does NOT get the normal libprefix. it's just `Store.so`, not `libStore.so`.
+  name_prefix : '',
+  dependencies : [
+    libstore,
+    sodium,
+    perl_include,
+  ],
+  link_args : [
+    # Nix doesn't provide a pkg-config file for libutil.
+    '-lnixutil',
+    soname_args,
+  ],
+  install : true,
+  install_dir : perl_libdir / 'auto/Nix/Store',
+)
+
+config_pm = configure_file(
+  input : 'Config.pm.in',
+  output : 'Config.pm',
+  configuration : {
+    'PACKAGE_VERSION': meson.project_version(),
+  },
+)
+
+nix_perl_sources = files(
+  'Store.pm',
+  'Manifest.pm',
+  'SSH.pm',
+  'CopyClosure.pm',
+  'Utils.pm',
+)
+
+install_data(
+  nix_perl_sources,
+  config_pm,
+  install_dir : perl_libdir / 'Nix',
+  preserve_path : true,
+)
diff --git a/perl/meson.build b/perl/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..75c7c2c79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/perl/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+project('lix-perl', 'cpp',
+  version : run_command('bash', '-c', 'echo -n $(cat ../.version)$VERSION_SUFFIX', check : true).stdout().strip(),
+  default_options : [
+    'cpp_std=c++2a',
+    # TODO(Qyriad): increase the warning level
+    'debug=true',
+    # FIXME(Qyriad): should this be -O2? The main nix build was switched to -O2 in 3c5234430
+    'optimization=3',
+  ],
+)
+
+fs = import('fs')
+
+prefix = get_option('prefix')
+libdir = get_option('libdir')
+if not fs.is_absolute(libdir)
+  libdir = prefix / libdir
+endif
+
+cxx = meson.get_compiler('cpp')
+
+# Really version 5.8.0, but Perl's version string is of the form
+# "This is perl 5, version 38, subversion 2", for 5.38.2, so as far
+# as Meson is concerned, the version of Perl we need is 8 or greater.
+perl = find_program('perl', version : '>=8')
+
+# "compiler to convert Perl XS code into C code"
+xsubpp = find_program('xsubpp')
+
+perl_version = run_command(
+  perl,
+  '-e',
+  'use Config; print $Config{version};',
+  capture : true,
+  check : true,
+).stdout()
+perl_arch_name = run_command(
+  perl,
+  '-e',
+  'use Config; print $Config{archname};',
+  capture : true,
+  check : true,
+).stdout()
+
+perl_libdir = f'@libdir@/perl5/site_perl/@perl_version@/@perl_arch_name@'
+
+perl_incdir = run_command(
+  perl,
+  '-e',
+  'use Config; print $Config{archlibexp};',
+  capture : true,
+  check : true,
+).stdout() + '/CORE'
+
+perl_include = declare_dependency(
+  # This must have is_system : true, or #include "config.h" will get perl's config.h
+  # instead of Nix's.
+  include_directories : include_directories(perl_incdir, is_system : true),
+)
+
+sodium = dependency('libsodium', 'sodium', required : true)
+
+if cxx.get_linker_id() in ['ld.bfd', 'ld.gold']
+  add_project_link_arguments('-Wl,--no-copy-dt-needed-entries', language : 'cpp')
+endif
+
+libstore = dependency('nixstore', 'nix-store', required : true)
+
+subdir('lib/Nix')