lib/PublicInbox/CmdIPC4.pm | 3 +--
 lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm     | 3 +--
 lib/PublicInbox/Spawn.pm   | 2 +-
 lib/PublicInbox/Syscall.pm | 3 +--
 script/lei                 | 3 +--

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/CmdIPC4.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/CmdIPC4.pm
index 76938b6d36dc4c16a89ecf63be1ff487a2e6217d..e368d0324199d1db9617838d8b7d0f4ed874f4bf 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/CmdIPC4.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/CmdIPC4.pm
@@ -5,8 +5,7 @@ # callers should use PublicInbox::CmdIPC4->can('send_cmd4') (or recv_cmd4)
 # first choice for script/lei front-end and 2nd choice for lei backend
 # libsocket-msghdr-perl is in Debian but not many other distros as of 2021.
 package PublicInbox::CmdIPC4;
-use strict;
-use v5.10.1;
+use v5.12;
 use Socket qw(SOL_SOCKET SCM_RIGHTS);
 BEGIN { eval {
 require Socket::MsgHdr; # XS
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
index 93b4ea03b67d58a9193b99e3970e94e221b2aff9..89aa4119aef22f4868f9f738a0e7e516b3c42119 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
@@ -6,8 +6,7 @@ # PublicInbox::Daemon, this is designed exclusively to handle trusted
 # local clients with read/write access to the FS and use as many
 # system resources as the local user has access to.
 package PublicInbox::LEI;
-use strict;
-use v5.10.1;
+use v5.12;
 use parent qw(PublicInbox::DS PublicInbox::LeiExternal
 	PublicInbox::LeiQuery);
 use Getopt::Long ();
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Spawn.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Spawn.pm
index 137b80878a35bced4a0735542908190d3dce1d92..3f69108a094d3dc1e61aa667927edbdf232ec7f9 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Spawn.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Spawn.pm
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ # There'll probably be more OS-level C stuff here, down the line.
 # We don't want too many DSOs: https://udrepper.livejournal.com/8790.html
 
 package PublicInbox::Spawn;
-use strict;
+use v5.12;
 use parent qw(Exporter);
 use Symbol qw(gensym);
 use Fcntl qw(LOCK_EX SEEK_SET);
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Syscall.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Syscall.pm
index 22b779ad6933464e327340593669439e12b3aef6..777c44d0660269d9753de2682b9000e04db5b4f2 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Syscall.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Syscall.pm
@@ -16,8 +16,7 @@ #
 # You may distribute under the terms of either the GNU General Public
 # License or the Artistic License, as specified in the Perl README file.
 package PublicInbox::Syscall;
-use strict;
-use v5.10.1;
+use v5.12;
 use parent qw(Exporter);
 use POSIX qw(ENOENT ENOSYS EINVAL O_NONBLOCK);
 use Socket qw(SOL_SOCKET SCM_RIGHTS);
diff --git a/script/lei b/script/lei
index adef9944288d91f396a0be0be50f6412d4779de2..5feb77515d0f4a10c9fe8b67f859f8232f11e113 100755
--- a/script/lei
+++ b/script/lei
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
 #!perl -w
 # Copyright (C) all contributors <meta@public-inbox.org>
 # License: AGPL-3.0+ <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.txt>
-use strict;
-use v5.10.1;
+use v5.12;
 use Socket qw(AF_UNIX SOCK_SEQPACKET MSG_EOR pack_sockaddr_un);
 use PublicInbox::CmdIPC4;
 my $narg = 5;