diff --git a/tools/perf/util/scripting-engines/trace-event-perl.c b/tools/perf/util/scripting-engines/trace-event-perl.c
index 2b12bdb3ce33..7b79c413486b 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/scripting-engines/trace-event-perl.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/scripting-engines/trace-event-perl.c
@@ -28,7 +28,9 @@
 #include <linux/bitmap.h>
 #include <linux/time64.h>
 
-#include "../util.h"
+#include <stdbool.h>
+/* perl needs the following define, right after including stdbool.h */
+#define HAS_BOOL
 #include <EXTERN.h>
 #include <perl.h>
 
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/util.h b/tools/perf/util/util.h
index 6855c454e5bc..622c2d251ad3 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/util.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/util.h
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 #define _BSD_SOURCE 1
 /* glibc 2.20 deprecates _BSD_SOURCE in favour of _DEFAULT_SOURCE */
 #define _DEFAULT_SOURCE 1
-#define HAS_BOOL
 
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <stdbool.h>