diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openssl/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openssl/package.py
index 5a413111dd98cd6d38c2f557d285b6460f00c041..9b4070d43a3227e3b6c3e5934be127114a644e3c 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openssl/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openssl/package.py
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ class Openssl(Package):
     version('1.0.1h', '8d6d684a9430d5cc98a62a5d8fbda8cf')
 
     depends_on("zlib")
-    # Also requires make and perl
+    depends_on("perl", type='build')
 
     parallel = False