diff --git a/pkgs/development/perl-modules/generic/default.nix b/pkgs/development/perl-modules/generic/default.nix
index 561bbcdb73ec..1d7e6d17ffb7 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/perl-modules/generic/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/perl-modules/generic/default.nix
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
-perl:
+{ lib, stdenv, perl }:
 
 { nativeBuildInputs ? [], name, ... } @ attrs:
 
-perl.stdenv.mkDerivation (
+stdenv.mkDerivation (
   (
-  perl.stdenv.lib.recursiveUpdate
+  lib.recursiveUpdate
   {
     outputs = [ "out" "devdoc" ];
 
@@ -23,13 +23,17 @@ perl.stdenv.mkDerivation (
     # the results are not being monitored by a human being."
     AUTOMATED_TESTING = true;
 
+    # current directory (".") is removed from @INC in Perl 5.26 but many old libs rely on it
+    # https://metacpan.org/pod/release/XSAWYERX/perl-5.26.0/pod/perldelta.pod#Removal-of-the-current-directory-%28%22.%22%29-from-@INC
+    PERL_USE_UNSAFE_INC = lib.optionalString (lib.versionAtLeast (lib.getVersion perl) "5.26") "1";
+
     meta.homepage = "https://metacpan.org/release/${(builtins.parseDrvName name).name}";
   }
   attrs
   )
   //
   {
-    name = "perl-" + name;
+    name = "perl${lib.getVersion perl}-${name}";
     builder = ./builder.sh;
     nativeBuildInputs = nativeBuildInputs ++ [ (perl.dev or perl) ];
     inherit perl;
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 8dfcca681fb6..ac0b13f51a00 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -7443,7 +7443,6 @@ with pkgs;
 
   ocropus = callPackage ../applications/misc/ocropus { };
 
-  perl = perl524;
   inherit (callPackages ../development/interpreters/perl {}) perl522 perl524 perl526 perl528;
 
   pachyderm = callPackage ../applications/networking/cluster/pachyderm { };
@@ -12579,11 +12578,25 @@ with pkgs;
 
   ### DEVELOPMENT / PERL MODULES
 
-  buildPerlPackage = callPackage ../development/perl-modules/generic perl;
-
-  perlPackages = recurseIntoAttrs (callPackage ./perl-packages.nix {
+  perl522Packages = recurseIntoAttrs (callPackage ./perl-packages.nix {
+    perl = perl522;
     overrides = (config.perlPackageOverrides or (p: {})) pkgs;
   });
+  perl524Packages = recurseIntoAttrs (callPackage ./perl-packages.nix {
+    perl = perl524;
+    overrides = (config.perlPackageOverrides or (p: {})) pkgs;
+  });
+  perl526Packages = recurseIntoAttrs (callPackage ./perl-packages.nix {
+    perl = perl526;
+    overrides = (config.perlPackageOverrides or (p: {})) pkgs;
+  });
+  perl528Packages = recurseIntoAttrs (callPackage ./perl-packages.nix {
+    perl = perl528;
+    overrides = (config.perlPackageOverrides or (p: {})) pkgs;
+  });
+
+  perlPackages = perl528Packages;
+  inherit (perlPackages) perl buildPerlPackage;
 
   perlXMLParser = perlPackages.XMLParser;
 
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/perl-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/perl-packages.nix
index cb292af94641..0cd005041605 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/perl-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/perl-packages.nix
@@ -7,13 +7,16 @@
 
 {config, pkgs, fetchurl, fetchFromGitHub, stdenv, gnused, perl, overrides}:
 
-let self = _self // overrides; _self = with self; {
+let
+  inherit (stdenv.lib) maintainers;
+  self = _self // overrides;
+  _self = with self; {
 
   inherit perl;
 
-  inherit (pkgs) buildPerlPackage;
+  callPackage = pkgs.newScope self;
 
-  inherit (stdenv.lib) maintainers;
+  buildPerlPackage = callPackage ../development/perl-modules/generic { };
 
   # Helper functions for packages that use Module::Build to build.
   buildPerlModule = { buildInputs ? [], ... } @ args:
@@ -715,10 +718,7 @@ let self = _self // overrides; _self = with self; {
     };
   };
 
-  BerkeleyDB = import ../development/perl-modules/BerkeleyDB {
-    inherit buildPerlPackage fetchurl;
-    inherit (pkgs) db;
-  };
+  BerkeleyDB = callPackage ../development/perl-modules/BerkeleyDB { };
 
   BHooksEndOfScope = buildPerlPackage rec {
     name = "B-Hooks-EndOfScope-0.24";
@@ -2388,10 +2388,7 @@ let self = _self // overrides; _self = with self; {
     };
   };
 
-  CompressRawZlib = import ../development/perl-modules/Compress-Raw-Zlib {
-    inherit fetchurl buildPerlPackage stdenv;
-    inherit (pkgs) zlib;
-  };
+  CompressRawZlib = callPackage ../development/perl-modules/Compress-Raw-Zlib { };
 
   CompressUnLZMA = buildPerlPackage rec {
     name = "Compress-unLZMA-0.05";
@@ -4028,30 +4025,15 @@ let self = _self // overrides; _self = with self; {
     buildInputs = [ TestException ];
   };
 
-  DBDSQLite = import ../development/perl-modules/DBD-SQLite {
-    inherit stdenv fetchurl buildPerlPackage DBI;
-    inherit (pkgs) sqlite;
-  };
+  DBDSQLite = callPackage ../development/perl-modules/DBD-SQLite { };
 
-  DBDmysql = import ../development/perl-modules/DBD-mysql {
-    inherit fetchurl buildPerlPackage DBI;
-    inherit (pkgs) mysql;
-  };
+  DBDmysql = callPackage ../development/perl-modules/DBD-mysql { };
 
-  DBDPg = import ../development/perl-modules/DBD-Pg {
-    inherit stdenv fetchurl buildPerlPackage DBI;
-    inherit (pkgs) postgresql;
-  };
+  DBDPg = callPackage ../development/perl-modules/DBD-Pg { };
 
-  DBDsybase = import ../development/perl-modules/DBD-sybase {
-    inherit fetchurl buildPerlPackage DBI;
-    inherit (pkgs) freetds;
-  };
+  DBDsybase = callPackage ../development/perl-modules/DBD-sybase { };
 
-  DBFile = import ../development/perl-modules/DB_File {
-    inherit fetchurl buildPerlPackage;
-    inherit (pkgs) db;
-  };
+  DBFile = callPackage ../development/perl-modules/DB_File { };
 
   DBI = buildPerlPackage rec {
     name = "DBI-${version}";
@@ -9017,9 +8999,7 @@ let self = _self // overrides; _self = with self; {
     propagatedBuildInputs = [ LWP NetDNS ];
   };
 
-  maatkit = import ../development/perl-modules/maatkit {
-    inherit fetchurl buildPerlPackage stdenv DBDmysql;
-  };
+  maatkit = callPackage ../development/perl-modules/maatkit { };
 
   MacPasteboard = buildPerlPackage rec {
     name = "Mac-Pasteboard-0.009";
@@ -9512,7 +9492,7 @@ let self = _self // overrides; _self = with self; {
     };
   };
 
-  MNI-Perllib = pkgs.callPackage ../development/perl-modules/MNI {};
+  MNI-Perllib = callPackage ../development/perl-modules/MNI {};
 
   Mo = buildPerlPackage rec {
      name = "Mo-0.40";