diff --git a/plugin/syntastic.vim b/plugin/syntastic.vim
index b7a74527..3678990c 100644
--- a/plugin/syntastic.vim
+++ b/plugin/syntastic.vim
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ if has('reltime')
     lockvar! g:_SYNTASTIC_START
 endif
 
-let g:_SYNTASTIC_VERSION = '3.7.0-190'
+let g:_SYNTASTIC_VERSION = '3.7.0-193'
 lockvar g:_SYNTASTIC_VERSION
 
 " Sanity checks {{{1
diff --git a/syntax_checkers/perl/perl.vim b/syntax_checkers/perl/perl.vim
index e039518a..ca3d0d76 100644
--- a/syntax_checkers/perl/perl.vim
+++ b/syntax_checkers/perl/perl.vim
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 "============================================================================
 "File:        perl.vim
-"Description: Syntax checking plugin for syntastic.vim
+"Description: Syntax checking plugin for syntastic
 "Maintainer:  Anthony Carapetis <anthony.carapetis at gmail dot com>,
 "             Eric Harmon <http://eharmon.net>
 "License:     This program is free software. It comes without any warranty,
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 "
 "   let g:syntastic_enable_perl_checker = 1
 "
-" References:
+" Reference:
 "
 " - http://perldoc.perl.org/perlrun.html#*-c*
 
@@ -55,15 +55,15 @@ function! SyntaxCheckers_perl_perl_GetLocList() dict " {{{1
         call syntastic#log#oneTimeWarn('variable g:syntastic_perl_lib_path should be a list')
         let includes = split(g:syntastic_perl_lib_path, ',')
     else
-        let includes = copy(syntastic#util#var('perl_lib_path'))
+        let includes = copy(syntastic#util#var('perl_lib_path', []))
     endif
     let shebang = syntastic#util#parseShebang()
-    let extra = join(map(includes, '"-I" . v:val')) .
-        \ (index(shebang['args'], '-T') >= 0 ? ' -T' : '') .
-        \ (index(shebang['args'], '-t') >= 0 ? ' -t' : '')
+    let extra = map(includes, '"-I" . v:val') +
+        \ (index(shebang['args'], '-T') >= 0 ? ['-T'] : []) +
+        \ (index(shebang['args'], '-t') >= 0 ? ['-t'] : [])
     let errorformat = '%f:%l:%m'
 
-    let makeprg = self.makeprgBuild({ 'args_before': '-c -X ' . extra })
+    let makeprg = self.makeprgBuild({ 'args_before': ['-c', '-X '] + extra })
 
     let errors = SyntasticMake({
         \ 'makeprg': makeprg,
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ function! SyntaxCheckers_perl_perl_GetLocList() dict " {{{1
         return errors
     endif
 
-    let makeprg = self.makeprgBuild({ 'args_before': '-c -Mwarnings ' . extra })
+    let makeprg = self.makeprgBuild({ 'args_before': ['-c', '-Mwarnings'] + extra })
 
     return SyntasticMake({
         \ 'makeprg': makeprg,