diff --git a/bin/sbang b/bin/sbang
index e71074b3302746bed51cc2db62da9a4c936c2365..ed54f7dad7e51374f08dbccd2778efde53d27ce7 100755
--- a/bin/sbang
+++ b/bin/sbang
@@ -109,13 +109,20 @@ while read line && ((lines < 2)) ; do
     fi
     lines=$((lines+1))
 done < "$script"
+# this is ineeded for scripts with sbang parameter
+# like ones in intltool
+# #!/<spack-long-path>/perl -w
+# this is the interpreter line with all the parameters as a vector
+interpreter_v=(${interpreter})
+# this is the single interpreter path 
+interpreter_f="${interpreter_v[0]}"
 
 # Invoke any interpreter found, or raise an error if none was found.
-if [[ -n "$interpreter" ]]; then
-    if [[ "${interpreter##*/}" = "perl" ]]; then
-        exec $interpreter -x "$@"
+if [[ -n "$interpreter_f" ]]; then
+    if [[ "${interpreter_f##*/}" = "perl" ]]; then
+        exec $interpreter_v -x "$@"
     else
-        exec $interpreter "$@"
+        exec $interpreter_v "$@"
     fi
 else
     echo "error: sbang found no interpreter in $script"
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/intltool/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/intltool/package.py
index 0007326eba5225e0777fec7da04013198f6414a3..a9e3a8a06255e2e0466b318ae2ab3b87057ea19a 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/intltool/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/intltool/package.py
@@ -36,7 +36,8 @@ class Intltool(AutotoolsPackage):
     version('0.51.0', '12e517cac2b57a0121cda351570f1e63')
 
     # requires XML::Parser perl module
-    # depends_on('perl@5.8.1:', type='build')
+    depends_on('perl-xml-parser', type=('build', 'run'))
+    depends_on('perl@5.8.1:',     type=('build', 'run'))
 
     def check(self):
         # `make check` passes but causes `make install` to fail