diff --git a/extensible-exceptions.cabal b/extensible-exceptions.cabal
index dd55b68db743a3005ad13fece3028e807033448d..8ae1ebccd7b0819cc1723084ea0cbb34c96a7537 100644
--- a/extensible-exceptions.cabal
+++ b/extensible-exceptions.cabal
@@ -9,12 +9,20 @@ category:       Control
 description:
     This package provides extensible exceptions for both new and 
     old versions of GHC (i.e., < 6.10).
-cabal-version:  >=1.6
+-- We want to remain compatible with older Cabal versions for now,
+-- but we need at least 1.2.3 in order to list DeriveDataTypeable
+-- as an extension.
+-- (GHC trac #3931)
+-- cabal-version:  >=1.6
+cabal-version:  >=1.2.3
 build-type: Simple
 
-source-repository head
-    type:     darcs
-    location: http://darcs.haskell.org/packages/extensible-exceptions/
+-- We want to remain compatible with older Cabal versions for now,
+-- and they don't understand source-repository sections
+-- (GHC trac #3931)
+-- source-repository head
+--     type:     darcs
+--     location: http://darcs.haskell.org/packages/extensible-exceptions/
 
 Library {
     if impl(ghc>=6.9)