diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 223c17920..f6a8a0d3e 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -48,6 +48,12 @@ AC_ARG_VAR([PHP_PREFIX], [Prefix for installing PHP modules.
                          Default = "/usr/lib/php"])
 AS_IF([test "x$PHP_PREFIX" = x], [PHP_PREFIX="/usr/lib/php"])
 
+AC_ARG_VAR([PERL_PREFIX], [Prefix for installing Perl modules.
+                           (Normal --prefix is ignored for Perl because
+                           Perl has different conventions.)
+                           Default = "/usr/local/lib"])
+AS_IF([test "x$PERL_PREFIX" = x], [PERL_PREFIX="/usr/local"])
+
 AC_PROG_CC
 AC_PROG_CPP
 AC_PROG_CXX
diff --git a/lib/perl/Makefile.am b/lib/perl/Makefile.am
index eb1956030..8e0caae4a 100644
--- a/lib/perl/Makefile.am
+++ b/lib/perl/Makefile.am
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 SUBDIRS = test
 
 Makefile-perl.mk : Makefile.PL
-	$(PERL) Makefile.PL MAKEFILE=Makefile-perl.mk INSTALLDIRS=$(INSTALLDIRS)
+	$(PERL) Makefile.PL MAKEFILE=Makefile-perl.mk INSTALLDIRS=$(INSTALLDIRS) INSTALL_BASE=$(PERL_PREFIX)
 
 all-local: Makefile-perl.mk
 	$(MAKE) -f Makefile-perl.mk