diff --git a/README b/README
index 58fa4f6..4801308 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@ the database. Also, stow will never delete any files, directories, or links
 that appear in a stow directory, so it is always possible to rebuild the
 target tree.
 
-Stow is a Perl script which should run correctly under Perl 4 and Perl 5.  You
-must install Perl before running Stow.  For more information about Perl, see
-http://www.perl.com/perl/.
+Stow is a Perl script which should run correctly under Perl 5.6.1 or
+newer.  You must install Perl before running Stow.  For more
+information about Perl, see http://www.perl.com/perl/.
 
 You can get the latest information about Stow from
 http://www.gnu.org/software/stow/stow.html
diff --git a/chkstow.in b/chkstow.in
index f14ec25..3fe1741 100755
--- a/chkstow.in
+++ b/chkstow.in
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 
+require 5.6.1;
+
 use File::Find;
 use Getopt::Long;
 
diff --git a/stow.in b/stow.in
index 6d23f29..5c6c6bc 100755
--- a/stow.in
+++ b/stow.in
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 
-require 5.005;
+require 5.6.1;
+
 use POSIX qw(getcwd);
 use Getopt::Long;