--- scripts/perl/Makefile.PL
+++ scripts/perl/Makefile.PL
@@ -37,5 +37,6 @@     'LDFROM'    => $ldfrom,
     'CC'        => $CC,
     'LD'        => '$(CC)',
     'INC'       => '-I../../include -I'.$cmakesrcdir.'/include',
+    'DESTDIR'   => @ENV{"D"},
     'OBJECT'    => 'openbabel-perl.o'
 );