diff --git a/packaging/win32/custom.sh b/packaging/win32/custom.sh
index acb9620ce7..5ef70c5fc6 100644
--- a/packaging/win32/custom.sh
+++ b/packaging/win32/custom.sh
@@ -38,6 +38,9 @@ READLINE_DIR=$GLOBAL_DIR\\readline
 INDENT_BIN_URL="$SF_MIRROR/gnuwin32/indent-2.2.9-bin.zip"
 INDENT_DIR=$GLOBAL_DIR\\indent
 
+ACTIVE_PERL_URL="http://downloads.activestate.com/ActivePerl/Windows/5.6/ActivePerl-5.6.1.638-MSWin32-x86.zip"
+ACTIVE_PERL_DIR=$GLOBAL_DIR\\active-perl
+
 GUILE_URL="http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/guile/guile-1.6.8.tar.gz"
 SLIB_URL="http://swiss.csail.mit.edu/ftpdir/scm/slib3a3.zip"
 GUILE_DIR=$GLOBAL_DIR\\guile
@@ -135,6 +138,7 @@ add_step inst_unzip
 add_step inst_regex
 add_step inst_readline
 add_step inst_indent
+add_step inst_active_perl
 add_step inst_guile
 add_step inst_openssl
 add_step inst_pexports
diff --git a/packaging/win32/install.sh b/packaging/win32/install.sh
index bf4e5cdfec..ace07ad376 100644
--- a/packaging/win32/install.sh
+++ b/packaging/win32/install.sh
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ SEPS_ACLOCAL_FLAGS=" "
 SEPS_AUTOTOOLS_CPPFLAGS=" "
 SEPS_AUTOTOOLS_LDFLAGS=" "
 SEPS_GUILE_LOAD_PATH=";"
+SEPS_INTLTOOL_PERL=" "
 SEPS_LIBGLADE_MODULE_PATH=";"
 SEPS_PATH=":"
 SEPS_PKG_CONFIG_PATH=":"
@@ -36,6 +37,7 @@ ACLOCAL_FLAGS \
 AUTOTOOLS_CPPFLAGS \
 AUTOTOOLS_LDFLAGS \
 GUILE_LOAD_PATH \
+INTLTOOL_PERL \
 LIBGLADE_MODULE_PATH \
 PATH \
 PKG_CONFIG_PATH \
@@ -233,6 +235,26 @@ function inst_indent() {
     quiet which indent || die "indent unavailable"
 }
 
+function inst_active_perl() {
+    setup ActivePerl \(intltool\)
+    _ACTIVE_PERL_WFSDIR=`win_fs_path $ACTIVE_PERL_DIR`
+    add_to_env $_ACTIVE_PERL_WFSDIR/bin/perl INTLTOOL_PERL
+    if quiet $INTLTOOL_PERL --help
+    then
+        echo "ActivePerl already installed.  skipping."
+    else
+        wget_unpacked $ACTIVE_PERL_URL $DOWNLOAD_DIR $ACTIVE_PERL_DIR
+        # this is the first of several bad hacks
+        # it would be much more natural to have a sort of -p flag like for `patch'
+        # please deuglify me
+        qpushd $ACTIVE_PERL_DIR
+            cp -r ActivePerl/Perl/* .
+            rm -rf ActivePerl
+        qpopd
+    fi
+    quiet $INTLTOOL_PERL --help || die "ActivePerl not installed correctly"
+}
+
 function inst_guile() {
     setup Guile
     _GUILE_WFSDIR=`win_fs_path $GUILE_DIR`