diff --git a/Documentation/CodingGuidelines b/Documentation/CodingGuidelines
index 65af8d82ce..aa0195d6eb 100644
--- a/Documentation/CodingGuidelines
+++ b/Documentation/CodingGuidelines
@@ -490,7 +490,7 @@ For Perl programs:
 
  - Most of the C guidelines above apply.
 
- - We try to support Perl 5.8 and later ("use Perl 5.008").
+ - We try to support Perl 5.8.1 and later ("use Perl 5.008001").
 
  - use strict and use warnings are strongly preferred.
 
diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index 4b42288882..06f29a8ae7 100644
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ Issues of note:
 	- A POSIX-compliant shell is required to run some scripts needed
 	  for everyday use (e.g. "bisect", "request-pull").
 
-	- "Perl" version 5.8 or later is needed to use some of the
+	- "Perl" version 5.8.1 or later is needed to use some of the
 	  features (e.g. sending patches using "git send-email",
 	  interacting with svn repositories with "git svn").  If you can
 	  live without these, use NO_PERL.  Note that recent releases of
diff --git a/contrib/diff-highlight/DiffHighlight.pm b/contrib/diff-highlight/DiffHighlight.pm
index 376f577737..636add6968 100644
--- a/contrib/diff-highlight/DiffHighlight.pm
+++ b/contrib/diff-highlight/DiffHighlight.pm
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 package DiffHighlight;
 
-use 5.008;
+use 5.008001;
 use warnings FATAL => 'all';
 use strict;
 
diff --git a/contrib/mw-to-git/Git/Mediawiki.pm b/contrib/mw-to-git/Git/Mediawiki.pm
index 917d9e2d32..ff7811225e 100644
--- a/contrib/mw-to-git/Git/Mediawiki.pm
+++ b/contrib/mw-to-git/Git/Mediawiki.pm
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 package Git::Mediawiki;
 
-use 5.008;
+use 5.008001;
 use strict;
 use POSIX;
 use Git;
diff --git a/git-archimport.perl b/git-archimport.perl
index b7c173c345..f5a317b899 100755
--- a/git-archimport.perl
+++ b/git-archimport.perl
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ =head1 Devel Notes
 
 =cut
 
-use 5.008;
+use 5.008001;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 use Getopt::Std;
diff --git a/git-cvsexportcommit.perl b/git-cvsexportcommit.perl
index 289d4bc684..1e03ba94d1 100755
--- a/git-cvsexportcommit.perl
+++ b/git-cvsexportcommit.perl
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/perl
 
-use 5.008;
+use 5.008001;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 use Getopt::Std;
diff --git a/git-cvsimport.perl b/git-cvsimport.perl
index 7bf3c12d67..07ea3443f7 100755
--- a/git-cvsimport.perl
+++ b/git-cvsimport.perl
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 # The head revision is on branch "origin" by default.
 # You can change that with the '-o' option.
 
-use 5.008;
+use 5.008001;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 use Getopt::Long;
diff --git a/git-cvsserver.perl b/git-cvsserver.perl
index 7b757360e2..124f598bdc 100755
--- a/git-cvsserver.perl
+++ b/git-cvsserver.perl
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 ####
 ####
 
-use 5.008;
+use 5.008001;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 use bytes;
diff --git a/git-send-email.perl b/git-send-email.perl
index 897cea6564..041db702d4 100755
--- a/git-send-email.perl
+++ b/git-send-email.perl
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 #    and second line is the subject of the message.
 #
 
-use 5.008;
+use 5.008001;
 use strict;
 use warnings $ENV{GIT_PERL_FATAL_WARNINGS} ? qw(FATAL all) : ();
 use Getopt::Long;
@@ -228,7 +228,7 @@ sub system_or_msg {
 	my @sprintf_args = ($cmd_name ? $cmd_name : $args->[0], $exit_code);
 	if (defined $msg) {
 		# Quiet the 'redundant' warning category, except we
-		# need to support down to Perl 5.8, so we can't do a
+		# need to support down to Perl 5.8.1, so we can't do a
 		# "no warnings 'redundant'", since that category was
 		# introduced in perl 5.22, and asking for it will die
 		# on older perls.
diff --git a/git-svn.perl b/git-svn.perl
index be987e316f..1d1c52f424 100755
--- a/git-svn.perl
+++ b/git-svn.perl
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/perl
 # Copyright (C) 2006, Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net>
 # License: GPL v2 or later
-use 5.008;
+use 5.008001;
 use warnings $ENV{GIT_PERL_FATAL_WARNINGS} ? qw(FATAL all) : ();
 use strict;
 use vars qw/	$AUTHOR $VERSION
diff --git a/gitweb/INSTALL b/gitweb/INSTALL
index a58e6b3c44..dadc6efa81 100644
--- a/gitweb/INSTALL
+++ b/gitweb/INSTALL
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ Requirements
 ------------
 
  - Core git tools
- - Perl 5.8
+ - Perl 5.8.1
  - Perl modules: CGI, Encode, Fcntl, File::Find, File::Basename.
  - web server
 
diff --git a/gitweb/gitweb.perl b/gitweb/gitweb.perl
index e66eb3d9ba..55e7c6567e 100755
--- a/gitweb/gitweb.perl
+++ b/gitweb/gitweb.perl
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 #
 # This program is licensed under the GPLv2
 
-use 5.008;
+use 5.008001;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 # handle ACL in file access tests
diff --git a/perl/Git.pm b/perl/Git.pm
index 117765dc73..03bf570bf4 100644
--- a/perl/Git.pm
+++ b/perl/Git.pm
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ =head1 NAME
 
 package Git;
 
-use 5.008;
+use 5.008001;
 use strict;
 use warnings $ENV{GIT_PERL_FATAL_WARNINGS} ? qw(FATAL all) : ();
 
diff --git a/perl/Git/I18N.pm b/perl/Git/I18N.pm
index 895e759c57..5454c3a6d2 100644
--- a/perl/Git/I18N.pm
+++ b/perl/Git/I18N.pm
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 package Git::I18N;
-use 5.008;
+use 5.008001;
 use strict;
 use warnings $ENV{GIT_PERL_FATAL_WARNINGS} ? qw(FATAL all) : ();
 BEGIN {
diff --git a/perl/Git/LoadCPAN.pm b/perl/Git/LoadCPAN.pm
index 0c360bc799..8c7fa805f9 100644
--- a/perl/Git/LoadCPAN.pm
+++ b/perl/Git/LoadCPAN.pm
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 package Git::LoadCPAN;
-use 5.008;
+use 5.008001;
 use strict;
 use warnings $ENV{GIT_PERL_FATAL_WARNINGS} ? qw(FATAL all) : ();
 
diff --git a/perl/Git/LoadCPAN/Error.pm b/perl/Git/LoadCPAN/Error.pm
index 5d84c20288..5cecb0fcd6 100644
--- a/perl/Git/LoadCPAN/Error.pm
+++ b/perl/Git/LoadCPAN/Error.pm
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 package Git::LoadCPAN::Error;
-use 5.008;
+use 5.008001;
 use strict;
 use warnings $ENV{GIT_PERL_FATAL_WARNINGS} ? qw(FATAL all) : ();
 use Git::LoadCPAN (
diff --git a/perl/Git/LoadCPAN/Mail/Address.pm b/perl/Git/LoadCPAN/Mail/Address.pm
index 340e88a7a5..9f808090a6 100644
--- a/perl/Git/LoadCPAN/Mail/Address.pm
+++ b/perl/Git/LoadCPAN/Mail/Address.pm
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 package Git::LoadCPAN::Mail::Address;
-use 5.008;
+use 5.008001;
 use strict;
 use warnings $ENV{GIT_PERL_FATAL_WARNINGS} ? qw(FATAL all) : ();
 use Git::LoadCPAN (
diff --git a/perl/Git/Packet.pm b/perl/Git/Packet.pm
index d144f5168f..d896e69523 100644
--- a/perl/Git/Packet.pm
+++ b/perl/Git/Packet.pm
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 package Git::Packet;
-use 5.008;
+use 5.008001;
 use strict;
 use warnings $ENV{GIT_PERL_FATAL_WARNINGS} ? qw(FATAL all) : ();
 BEGIN {
diff --git a/t/t0202/test.pl b/t/t0202/test.pl
index 2cbf7b9590..47d96a2a13 100755
--- a/t/t0202/test.pl
+++ b/t/t0202/test.pl
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/bin/perl
-use 5.008;
+use 5.008001;
 use lib (split(/:/, $ENV{GITPERLLIB}));
 use strict;
 use warnings;
diff --git a/t/t5562/invoke-with-content-length.pl b/t/t5562/invoke-with-content-length.pl
index 718dd9b49d..9babb9a375 100644
--- a/t/t5562/invoke-with-content-length.pl
+++ b/t/t5562/invoke-with-content-length.pl
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-use 5.008;
+use 5.008001;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 
diff --git a/t/t9700/test.pl b/t/t9700/test.pl
index 6d753708d2..d8e85482ab 100755
--- a/t/t9700/test.pl
+++ b/t/t9700/test.pl
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/perl
 use lib (split(/:/, $ENV{GITPERLLIB}));
 
-use 5.008;
+use 5.008001;
 use warnings;
 use strict;
 
diff --git a/t/test-terminal.perl b/t/test-terminal.perl
index 1bcf01a9a4..3810e9bb43 100755
--- a/t/test-terminal.perl
+++ b/t/test-terminal.perl
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/bin/perl
-use 5.008;
+use 5.008001;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 use IO::Pty;