diff --git a/src/pl/plperl/GNUmakefile b/src/pl/plperl/GNUmakefile
index 66a2c3d4c9c..91d1296b219 100644
--- a/src/pl/plperl/GNUmakefile
+++ b/src/pl/plperl/GNUmakefile
@@ -83,7 +83,12 @@ all: all-lib
 
 %.c: %.xs
 	@if [ x"$(perl_privlibexp)" = x"" ]; then echo "configure switch --with-perl was not specified."; exit 1; fi
+# xsubpp -output option is required for coverage+vpath, but requires Perl 5.9.3
+ifeq ($(enable_coverage)$(vpath_build),yesyes)
 	$(PERL) $(XSUBPPDIR)/ExtUtils/xsubpp -typemap $(perl_privlibexp)/ExtUtils/typemap -output $@ $<
+else
+	$(PERL) $(XSUBPPDIR)/ExtUtils/xsubpp -typemap $(perl_privlibexp)/ExtUtils/typemap $< >$@
+endif
 
 
 install: all install-lib install-data