diff --git a/.dir-locals.el b/.dir-locals.el
index bc1bc7b16edee7df44fe0ad2d0e11edf76a3e119..d8827a669a4dbe041ccc4ac3075a6883290bf4ba 100644
--- a/.dir-locals.el
+++ b/.dir-locals.el
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
                (perl-brace-offset . 0)
                (perl-brace-imaginary-offset . 0)
                (perl-label-offset . -2)
+               (indent-tabs-mode . t)
                (tab-width . 4)))
  (sgml-mode . ((fill-column . 78)
                (indent-tabs-mode . nil))))
diff --git a/src/tools/editors/emacs.samples b/src/tools/editors/emacs.samples
index a510afd051b04b9ebf8e845ee9bfa2ad0572ec4b..d9cd47cef2710f5610d6c9a0722d75907da6aebf 100644
--- a/src/tools/editors/emacs.samples
+++ b/src/tools/editors/emacs.samples
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@
   (setq perl-continued-statement-offset 4)
   (setq perl-indent-level 4)
   (setq perl-label-offset -2)
+  (setq indent-tabs-mode t)
   (setq tab-width 4))
 
 (add-hook 'perl-mode-hook