diff --git a/data/misc/meson.build b/data/misc/meson.build
index 6cbd9f91..02d6bf25 100644
--- a/data/misc/meson.build
+++ b/data/misc/meson.build
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ if get_option('with-plugin')
     ]
   endif
 
-  if get_option('with-perl')
+  if get_option('with-perl') != 'false'
     plugin_metainfo += [
       ['Perl', 'Provides a scripting interface in Perl', 'GPL-2.0+']
     ]
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index eee21791..23f4fd10 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -42,8 +42,8 @@ option('with-fishlim', type: 'boolean',
 option('with-lua', type: 'string', value: 'luajit',
   description: 'Lua scripting plugin, value is pkg-config name to use or "false"'
 )
-option('with-perl', type: 'boolean',
-  description: 'Perl scripting plugin'
+option('with-perl', type: 'string', value: 'perl',
+  description: 'Perl scripting plugin, value is path to perl executable or "false"'
 )
 option('with-python', type: 'string', value: 'python3',
   description: 'Python scripting plugin. value is pkg-config name to use or "false"'
diff --git a/plugins/meson.build b/plugins/meson.build
index 9e7fae93..6d41182b 100644
--- a/plugins/meson.build
+++ b/plugins/meson.build
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ if get_option('with-lua') != 'false'
   subdir('lua')
 endif
 
-if get_option('with-perl')
+if get_option('with-perl') != 'false'
   subdir('perl')
 endif
 
diff --git a/plugins/perl/meson.build b/plugins/perl/meson.build
index 180797ee..3779a35c 100644
--- a/plugins/perl/meson.build
+++ b/plugins/perl/meson.build
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ if get_option('with-perl-legacy-api')
   perl_cflags += '-DOLD_PERL'
 endif
 
-perl = find_program('perl')
+perl = find_program(get_option('with-perl'))
 
 ret = run_command([perl, '-MExtUtils::Embed', '-e', 'ccopts'])
 if ret.returncode() != 0