diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index 59200b730e..10a1cba643 100644
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -67,10 +67,10 @@ Issues of note:
 	- A POSIX-compliant shell is required to run many scripts needed
 	  for everyday use (e.g. "bisect", "pull").
 
-	- "Perl" is needed to use some of the features (e.g. preparing a
-	  partial commit using "git add -i/-p", interacting with svn
-	  repositories with "git svn").  If you can live without these, use
-	  NO_PERL.
+	- "Perl" version 5.8 or later is needed to use some of the
+	  features (e.g. preparing a partial commit using "git add -i/-p",
+	  interacting with svn repositories with "git svn").  If you can
+	  live without these, use NO_PERL.
 
 	- "openssl" library is used by git-imap-send to use IMAP over SSL.
 	  If you don't need it, use NO_OPENSSL.
diff --git a/git-add--interactive.perl b/git-add--interactive.perl
index 27fc79347a..a96fb53156 100755
--- a/git-add--interactive.perl
+++ b/git-add--interactive.perl
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/perl -w
 
+use 5.008;
 use strict;
 use Git;
 
diff --git a/git-archimport.perl b/git-archimport.perl
index 98f3ede566..947638c38d 100755
--- a/git-archimport.perl
+++ b/git-archimport.perl
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ =head1 Devel Notes
 
 =cut
 
+use 5.008;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 use Getopt::Std;
diff --git a/git-cvsexportcommit.perl b/git-cvsexportcommit.perl
index 59b672213b..9a8188bba7 100755
--- a/git-cvsexportcommit.perl
+++ b/git-cvsexportcommit.perl
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/perl -w
 
+use 5.008;
 use strict;
 use Getopt::Std;
 use File::Temp qw(tempdir);
diff --git a/git-cvsimport.perl b/git-cvsimport.perl
index 9e03eee458..53869fb644 100755
--- a/git-cvsimport.perl
+++ b/git-cvsimport.perl
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 # The head revision is on branch "origin" by default.
 # You can change that with the '-o' option.
 
+use 5.008;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 use Getopt::Long;
diff --git a/git-cvsserver.perl b/git-cvsserver.perl
index e9f3037df3..2822bed1fd 100755
--- a/git-cvsserver.perl
+++ b/git-cvsserver.perl
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 ####
 ####
 
+use 5.008;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 use bytes;
diff --git a/git-difftool.perl b/git-difftool.perl
index adc42de875..e95e4ad973 100755
--- a/git-difftool.perl
+++ b/git-difftool.perl
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 #
 # Any arguments that are unknown to this script are forwarded to 'git diff'.
 
+use 5.008;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 use Cwd qw(abs_path);
diff --git a/git-relink.perl b/git-relink.perl
index 937c69a748..af2e305fa3 100755
--- a/git-relink.perl
+++ b/git-relink.perl
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 #
 # Scan two git object-trees, and hardlink any common objects between them.
 
-use 5.006;
+use 5.008;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 use Getopt::Long;
diff --git a/git-send-email.perl b/git-send-email.perl
index 6dab3bf6a7..314e59e7a9 100755
--- a/git-send-email.perl
+++ b/git-send-email.perl
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 #    and second line is the subject of the message.
 #
 
+use 5.008;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 use Term::ReadLine;
diff --git a/git-svn.perl b/git-svn.perl
index 9b046b693f..d2922245aa 100755
--- a/git-svn.perl
+++ b/git-svn.perl
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env perl
 # Copyright (C) 2006, Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net>
 # License: GPL v2 or later
+use 5.008;
 use warnings;
 use strict;
 use vars qw/	$AUTHOR $VERSION
diff --git a/gitweb/gitweb.perl b/gitweb/gitweb.perl
index a85e2f6319..e645d4a821 100755
--- a/gitweb/gitweb.perl
+++ b/gitweb/gitweb.perl
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 #
 # This program is licensed under the GPLv2
 
+use 5.008;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 use CGI qw(:standard :escapeHTML -nosticky);
diff --git a/perl/Git.pm b/perl/Git.pm
index 6cb0dd1934..205e48aa3a 100644
--- a/perl/Git.pm
+++ b/perl/Git.pm
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ =head1 NAME
 
 package Git;
 
+use 5.008;
 use strict;
 
 
diff --git a/t/t7006/test-terminal.perl b/t/t7006/test-terminal.perl
index 73ff809371..6b5f22ae4a 100755
--- a/t/t7006/test-terminal.perl
+++ b/t/t7006/test-terminal.perl
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/bin/perl
+use 5.008;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 use IO::Pty;
diff --git a/t/t9700/test.pl b/t/t9700/test.pl
index 671f38db2b..c15ca2d647 100755
--- a/t/t9700/test.pl
+++ b/t/t9700/test.pl
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/perl
 use lib (split(/:/, $ENV{GITPERLLIB}));
 
-use 5.006002;
+use 5.008;
 use warnings;
 use strict;