diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index 9f494cb15..2b0e3c613 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -192,14 +192,14 @@
               libgit2 = final.libgit2-nix;
               libseccomp = final.libseccomp-nix;
               busybox-sandbox-shell = final.busybox-sandbox-shell or final.default-busybox-sandbox-shell;
-            } // {
-              # this is a proper separate downstream package, but put
-              # here also for back compat reasons.
-              perl-bindings = final.nix-perl-bindings;
             };
 
-          nix-perl-bindings = final.callPackage ./perl {
-            inherit fileset stdenv;
+          nix-perl-bindings = final.callPackage ./src/perl/package.nix {
+            inherit
+              fileset
+              stdenv
+              versionSuffix
+              ;
           };
 
           # See https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/214409
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@
 
     in {
       # A Nixpkgs overlay that overrides the 'nix' and
-      # 'nix.perl-bindings' packages.
+      # 'nix-perl-bindings' packages.
       overlays.default = overlayFor (p: p.stdenv);
 
       hydraJobs = import ./maintainers/hydra.nix {
@@ -245,7 +245,11 @@
         # Some perl dependencies are broken on i686-linux.
         # Since the support is only best-effort there, disable the perl
         # bindings
-        perlBindings = self.hydraJobs.perlBindings.${system};
+
+        # Temporarily disabled because GitHub Actions OOM issues. Once
+        # the old build system is gone and we are back to one build
+        # system, we should reenable this.
+        #perlBindings = self.hydraJobs.perlBindings.${system};
       } // devFlake.checks.${system} or {}
       );
 
@@ -297,6 +301,13 @@
         makeShell = pkgs: stdenv: (pkgs.nix.override { inherit stdenv; forDevShell = true; }).overrideAttrs (attrs:
         let
           modular = devFlake.getSystem stdenv.buildPlatform.system;
+          transformFlag = prefix: flag:
+            assert builtins.isString flag;
+            let
+              rest = builtins.substring 2 (builtins.stringLength flag) flag;
+            in
+              "-D${prefix}:${rest}";
+          havePerl = stdenv.buildPlatform == stdenv.hostPlatform && stdenv.hostPlatform.isUnix;
         in {
           pname = "shell-for-" + attrs.pname;
 
@@ -327,11 +338,16 @@
               "${(pkgs.formats.yaml { }).generate "pre-commit-config.yaml" modular.pre-commit.settings.rawConfig}";
           };
 
-          mesonFlags = pkgs.nix-util.mesonFlags ++ pkgs.nix-store.mesonFlags;
+          mesonFlags =
+            map (transformFlag "libutil") pkgs.nix-util.mesonFlags
+            ++ map (transformFlag "libstore") pkgs.nix-store.mesonFlags
+            ++ lib.optionals havePerl (map (transformFlag "perl") pkgs.nix-perl-bindings.mesonFlags)
+            ;
 
           nativeBuildInputs = attrs.nativeBuildInputs or []
             ++ pkgs.nix-util.nativeBuildInputs
             ++ pkgs.nix-store.nativeBuildInputs
+            ++ lib.optionals havePerl pkgs.nix-perl-bindings.nativeBuildInputs
             ++ [
               modular.pre-commit.settings.package
               (pkgs.writeScriptBin "pre-commit-hooks-install"
@@ -341,6 +357,10 @@
             # https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/291814 is available
             ++ lib.optional (stdenv.cc.isClang && !stdenv.buildPlatform.isDarwin) pkgs.buildPackages.bear
             ++ lib.optional (stdenv.cc.isClang && stdenv.hostPlatform == stdenv.buildPlatform) pkgs.buildPackages.clang-tools;
+
+          buildInputs = attrs.buildInputs or []
+            ++ lib.optional havePerl pkgs.perl
+            ;
         });
         in
         forAllSystems (system:
diff --git a/maintainers/hydra.nix b/maintainers/hydra.nix
index cc0dadac9..6c07e65d4 100644
--- a/maintainers/hydra.nix
+++ b/maintainers/hydra.nix
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ in
   );
 
   # Perl bindings for various platforms.
-  perlBindings = forAllSystems (system: nixpkgsFor.${system}.native.nix.perl-bindings);
+  perlBindings = forAllSystems (system: nixpkgsFor.${system}.native.nix-perl-bindings);
 
   # Binary tarball for various platforms, containing a Nix store
   # with the closure of 'nix' package, and the second half of
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 10883d832..f1ee7a571 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -8,3 +8,4 @@ project('nix-dev-shell', 'cpp',
 
 subproject('libutil')
 subproject('libstore')
+subproject('perl')
diff --git a/package.nix b/package.nix
index 5986edeb4..cb9554235 100644
--- a/package.nix
+++ b/package.nix
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ in {
           ./doc
           ./misc
           ./precompiled-headers.h
-          ./src
+          (fileset.difference ./src ./src/perl)
           ./COPYING
           ./scripts/local.mk
         ] ++ lib.optionals buildUnitTests [
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ in {
         ] ++ lib.optionals (enableInternalAPIDocs || enableExternalAPIDocs) [
           # Source might not be compiled, but still must be available
           # for Doxygen to gather comments.
-          ./src
+          (fileset.difference ./src ./src/perl)
           ./tests/unit
         ] ++ lib.optionals buildUnitTests [
           ./tests/unit
diff --git a/src/perl/.version b/src/perl/.version
new file mode 120000
index 000000000..b7badcd0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/perl/.version
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../.version
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/perl/.yath.rc.in b/src/perl/.yath.rc.in
similarity index 100%
rename from perl/.yath.rc.in
rename to src/perl/.yath.rc.in
diff --git a/perl/MANIFEST b/src/perl/MANIFEST
similarity index 100%
rename from perl/MANIFEST
rename to src/perl/MANIFEST
diff --git a/perl/lib/Nix/Config.pm.in b/src/perl/lib/Nix/Config.pm.in
similarity index 100%
rename from perl/lib/Nix/Config.pm.in
rename to src/perl/lib/Nix/Config.pm.in
diff --git a/perl/lib/Nix/CopyClosure.pm b/src/perl/lib/Nix/CopyClosure.pm
similarity index 100%
rename from perl/lib/Nix/CopyClosure.pm
rename to src/perl/lib/Nix/CopyClosure.pm
diff --git a/perl/lib/Nix/Manifest.pm b/src/perl/lib/Nix/Manifest.pm
similarity index 100%
rename from perl/lib/Nix/Manifest.pm
rename to src/perl/lib/Nix/Manifest.pm
diff --git a/perl/lib/Nix/SSH.pm b/src/perl/lib/Nix/SSH.pm
similarity index 100%
rename from perl/lib/Nix/SSH.pm
rename to src/perl/lib/Nix/SSH.pm
diff --git a/perl/lib/Nix/Store.pm b/src/perl/lib/Nix/Store.pm
similarity index 100%
rename from perl/lib/Nix/Store.pm
rename to src/perl/lib/Nix/Store.pm
diff --git a/perl/lib/Nix/Store.xs b/src/perl/lib/Nix/Store.xs
similarity index 99%
rename from perl/lib/Nix/Store.xs
rename to src/perl/lib/Nix/Store.xs
index e751c2be1..15eb5c4f8 100644
--- a/perl/lib/Nix/Store.xs
+++ b/src/perl/lib/Nix/Store.xs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-#include "nix/config.h"
+#include "config-util.h"
+#include "config-store.h"
 
 #include "EXTERN.h"
 #include "perl.h"
diff --git a/perl/lib/Nix/Utils.pm b/src/perl/lib/Nix/Utils.pm
similarity index 100%
rename from perl/lib/Nix/Utils.pm
rename to src/perl/lib/Nix/Utils.pm
diff --git a/perl/lib/Nix/meson.build b/src/perl/lib/Nix/meson.build
similarity index 100%
rename from perl/lib/Nix/meson.build
rename to src/perl/lib/Nix/meson.build
diff --git a/perl/meson.build b/src/perl/meson.build
similarity index 96%
rename from perl/meson.build
rename to src/perl/meson.build
index 350e5bd67..06abb4f2e 100644
--- a/perl/meson.build
+++ b/src/perl/meson.build
@@ -7,17 +7,17 @@
 project (
   'nix-perl',
   'cpp',
-  meson_version : '>= 0.64.0',
+  version : files('.version'),
+  meson_version : '>= 1.1',
   license : 'LGPL-2.1-or-later',
 )
 
 # setup env
 #-------------------------------------------------
 fs = import('fs')
-nix_version = get_option('version')
 cpp = meson.get_compiler('cpp')
 nix_perl_conf = configuration_data()
-nix_perl_conf.set('PACKAGE_VERSION', nix_version)
+nix_perl_conf.set('PACKAGE_VERSION', meson.project_version())
 
 
 # set error arguments
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ yath = find_program('yath', required : false)
 bzip2_dep = dependency('bzip2')
 curl_dep = dependency('libcurl')
 libsodium_dep = dependency('libsodium')
-# nix_util_dep = dependency('nix-util')
+
 nix_store_dep = dependency('nix-store')
 
 
diff --git a/perl/meson_options.txt b/src/perl/meson.options
similarity index 88%
rename from perl/meson_options.txt
rename to src/perl/meson.options
index 82ca52f37..9b5b6b1d9 100644
--- a/perl/meson_options.txt
+++ b/src/perl/meson.options
@@ -5,11 +5,6 @@
 # compiler args
 #============================================================================
 
-option(
-  'version',
-  type : 'string',
-  description : 'nix-perl version')
-
 option(
   'tests',
   type : 'feature',
diff --git a/perl/default.nix b/src/perl/package.nix
similarity index 79%
rename from perl/default.nix
rename to src/perl/package.nix
index 45682381e..a31b1b66c 100644
--- a/perl/default.nix
+++ b/src/perl/package.nix
@@ -6,17 +6,19 @@
 , meson
 , ninja
 , pkg-config
-, nix
+, nix-store
 , curl
 , bzip2
 , xz
 , boost
 , libsodium
 , darwin
+, versionSuffix ? ""
 }:
 
 perl.pkgs.toPerlModule (stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
-  name = "nix-perl-${nix.version}";
+  pname = "nix-perl";
+  version = lib.fileContents ./.version + versionSuffix;
 
   src = fileset.toSource {
     root = ./.;
@@ -24,7 +26,7 @@ perl.pkgs.toPerlModule (stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
       ./MANIFEST
       ./lib
       ./meson.build
-      ./meson_options.txt
+      ./meson.options
     ] ++ lib.optionals finalAttrs.doCheck [
       ./.yath.rc.in
       ./t
@@ -38,7 +40,7 @@ perl.pkgs.toPerlModule (stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   ];
 
   buildInputs = [
-    nix
+    nix-store
     curl
     bzip2
     xz
@@ -55,8 +57,13 @@ perl.pkgs.toPerlModule (stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     perlPackages.Test2Harness
   ];
 
+  preConfigure =
+    # "Inline" .version so its not a symlink, and includes the suffix
+    ''
+      echo ${finalAttrs.version} > .version
+    '';
+
   mesonFlags = [
-    (lib.mesonOption "version" (builtins.readFile ../.version))
     (lib.mesonOption "dbi_path" "${perlPackages.DBI}/${perl.libPrefix}")
     (lib.mesonOption "dbd_sqlite_path" "${perlPackages.DBDSQLite}/${perl.libPrefix}")
     (lib.mesonEnable "tests" finalAttrs.doCheck)
diff --git a/perl/t/init.t b/src/perl/t/init.t
similarity index 100%
rename from perl/t/init.t
rename to src/perl/t/init.t
diff --git a/perl/t/meson.build b/src/perl/t/meson.build
similarity index 100%
rename from perl/t/meson.build
rename to src/perl/t/meson.build