diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 4e55fc1c37..dc51231eb2 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 /GIT-LDFLAGS
 /GIT-PREFIX
 /GIT-PERL-DEFINES
+/GIT-PERL-HEADER
 /GIT-PYTHON-VARS
 /GIT-SCRIPT-DEFINES
 /GIT-USER-AGENT
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 9b4bc04ec7..ef7fe96db6 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1976,20 +1976,15 @@ git.res: git.rc GIT-VERSION-FILE GIT-PREFIX
 $(SCRIPT_PERL_GEN): GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS
 
 ifndef NO_PERL
-$(SCRIPT_PERL_GEN):
-
+PERL_HEADER_TEMPLATE = perl/header_templates/fixed_prefix.template.pl
 PERL_DEFINES = $(PERL_PATH_SQ):$(PERLLIB_EXTRA_SQ):$(perllibdir_SQ)
-$(SCRIPT_PERL_GEN): % : %.perl GIT-PERL-DEFINES GIT-VERSION-FILE
+
+$(SCRIPT_PERL_GEN): % : %.perl GIT-PERL-DEFINES GIT-PERL-HEADER GIT-VERSION-FILE
 	$(QUIET_GEN)$(RM) $@ $@+ && \
-	INSTLIBDIR='$(perllibdir_SQ)' && \
-	INSTLIBDIR_EXTRA='$(PERLLIB_EXTRA_SQ)' && \
-	INSTLIBDIR="$$INSTLIBDIR$${INSTLIBDIR_EXTRA:+:$$INSTLIBDIR_EXTRA}" && \
 	sed -e '1{' \
 	    -e '	s|#!.*perl|#!$(PERL_PATH_SQ)|' \
-	    -e '	h' \
-	    -e '	s=.*=use lib (split(/$(pathsep)/, $$ENV{GITPERLLIB} || "'"$$INSTLIBDIR"'"));=' \
-	    -e '	H' \
-	    -e '	x' \
+	    -e '	rGIT-PERL-HEADER' \
+	    -e '	G' \
 	    -e '}' \
 	    -e 's/@@GIT_VERSION@@/$(GIT_VERSION)/g' \
 	    $< >$@+ && \
@@ -2003,6 +1998,16 @@ GIT-PERL-DEFINES: FORCE
 		echo "$$FLAGS" >$@; \
 	    fi
 
+GIT-PERL-HEADER: $(PERL_HEADER_TEMPLATE) GIT-PERL-DEFINES Makefile
+	$(QUIET_GEN)$(RM) $@ && \
+	INSTLIBDIR='$(perllibdir_SQ)' && \
+	INSTLIBDIR_EXTRA='$(PERLLIB_EXTRA_SQ)' && \
+	INSTLIBDIR="$$INSTLIBDIR$${INSTLIBDIR_EXTRA:+:$$INSTLIBDIR_EXTRA}" && \
+	sed -e 's=@@PATHSEP@@=$(pathsep)=g' \
+	    -e 's=@@INSTLIBDIR@@='$$INSTLIBDIR'=g' \
+	    -e 's=@@PERLLIBDIR@@='$(perllibdir_SQ)'=g' \
+	    $< >$@+ && \
+	mv $@+ $@
 
 .PHONY: gitweb
 gitweb:
@@ -2799,7 +2804,7 @@ ifndef NO_TCLTK
 endif
 	$(RM) GIT-VERSION-FILE GIT-CFLAGS GIT-LDFLAGS GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS
 	$(RM) GIT-USER-AGENT GIT-PREFIX
-	$(RM) GIT-SCRIPT-DEFINES GIT-PERL-DEFINES GIT-PYTHON-VARS
+	$(RM) GIT-SCRIPT-DEFINES GIT-PERL-DEFINES GIT-PERL-HEADER GIT-PYTHON-VARS
 ifdef MSVC
 	$(RM) $(patsubst %.o,%.o.pdb,$(OBJECTS))
 	$(RM) $(patsubst %.exe,%.pdb,$(OTHER_PROGRAMS))
diff --git a/perl/header_templates/fixed_prefix.template.pl b/perl/header_templates/fixed_prefix.template.pl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..857b4391a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/perl/header_templates/fixed_prefix.template.pl
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+use lib (split(/@@PATHSEP@@/, $ENV{GITPERLLIB} || '@@INSTLIBDIR@@'));