diff --git a/lang/perl/Config.in b/lang/perl/Config.in
index 14aedc285c..65a3a47d71 100644
--- a/lang/perl/Config.in
+++ b/lang/perl/Config.in
@@ -17,4 +17,15 @@ config PERL_TESTS
 		Test support is still in development. Some tests will fail,
 		others are just missing completely.
 
+config PERL_NOCOMMENT
+	bool "Strip comments and pod sections from modules"
+	default y
+	help
+		Remove comments and pod sections for all perl packages.
+
+		This will descrease the size of perl libraries moderately.
+
+		Stripping occasionally gets confused and mangles valid code,
+		so disable this option if you're not pressed for space.
+
 endmenu
diff --git a/lang/perl/Makefile b/lang/perl/Makefile
index 21f0349d6c..d3cb081dac 100644
--- a/lang/perl/Makefile
+++ b/lang/perl/Makefile
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ include $(TOPDIR)/rules.mk
 
 PKG_NAME:=perl
 PKG_VERSION:=5.22.1
-PKG_RELEASE:=3
+PKG_RELEASE:=4
 
 PKG_SOURCE_URL:=ftp://ftp.cpan.org/pub/CPAN/src/5.0 \
 		http://www.cpan.org/src/5.0 \
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ PKG_MD5SUM:=19295bbb775a3c36123161b9bf4892f1
 
 PKG_LICENSE:=GPL-1.0+ Artistic-1.0-Perl
 PKG_LICENSE_FILES:=Copying Artistic README
-PKG_MAINTAINER:=Marcel Denia <naoir@gmx.net>
+PKG_MAINTAINER:=Marcel Denia <naoir@gmx.net>, \
+		Philip Prindeville <philipp@redfish-solutions.com>
 
 # Build settings
 PKG_BUILD_DIR:=$(BUILD_DIR)/perl/$(PKG_NAME)-$(PKG_VERSION)
diff --git a/lang/perl/perlmod.mk b/lang/perl/perlmod.mk
index 173e890a8b..be566087cd 100644
--- a/lang/perl/perlmod.mk
+++ b/lang/perl/perlmod.mk
@@ -129,9 +129,7 @@ define perlmod/Install/NoStrip
 endef
 
 
-define perlmod/Install
-	$(call perlmod/Install/NoStrip,$(1),$(2),$(3))
-
+define perlmod/_DoStrip
 	@echo "---> Stripping modules in: $(strip $(1))$(PERL_SITELIB)"
 	find $(strip $(1))$(PERL_SITELIB) -name \*.pm -or -name \*.pl | \
 	xargs -r sed -i \
@@ -141,6 +139,12 @@ define perlmod/Install
 		-e '/^#[^!"'"'"']/d'
 endef
 
+define perlmod/Install
+	$(call perlmod/Install/NoStrip,$(1),$(2),$(3))
+
+	$(if $(CONFIG_PERL_NOCOMMENT),$(if $(PKG_LEAVE_COMMENTS),,$(call perlmod/_DoStrip,$(1),$(2),$(3))))
+endef
+
 # You probably don't want to use this directly. Look at perlmod/InstallTests
 define perlmod/_InstallTests
 	$(INSTALL_DIR) $(strip $(1))