diff --git a/Cabal/ChangeLog.md b/Cabal/ChangeLog.md
index bf91e60f78544b3882b501a87940ec9d5e7f1330..f86e5b490eb488cc5e4717aefdc5b108baa96db9 100644
--- a/Cabal/ChangeLog.md
+++ b/Cabal/ChangeLog.md
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@
   * Add `unsnoc` and `unsnocNE` to `Distribution.Utils.Generic`
   * Add `Set'` modifier to `Distribution.Parsec.Newtypes`
   * Add `Distribution.Compat.Async`
+  * Disallow spaces around colon `:` in Dependency (`build-depends` syntax
+  * Make `configure` accept any `pkg-config --modversion` output
 
 # 3.0.1.0 TBW
   * Add GHC-8.8 flags to normaliseGhcFlags
diff --git a/Cabal/Distribution/Simple/Configure.hs b/Cabal/Distribution/Simple/Configure.hs
index 39570332d65aff34872fb7f5310fdfccfd61ff7c..af74f13c02b3abce3d85657fb30c96184dfa5e4a 100644
--- a/Cabal/Distribution/Simple/Configure.hs
+++ b/Cabal/Distribution/Simple/Configure.hs
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ import Distribution.Simple.BuildTarget
 import Distribution.Simple.LocalBuildInfo
 import Distribution.Types.ExeDependency
 import Distribution.Types.LegacyExeDependency
+import Distribution.Types.PkgconfigVersion
 import Distribution.Types.PkgconfigDependency
 import Distribution.Types.PkgconfigVersionRange
 import Distribution.Types.LocalBuildInfo
@@ -119,7 +120,7 @@ import Data.ByteString.Lazy          ( ByteString )
 import qualified Data.ByteString            as BS
 import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy.Char8 as BLC8
 import Data.List
-    ( (\\), partition, inits, stripPrefix, intersect )
+    ( (\\), partition, inits, stripPrefix, intersect, dropWhileEnd )
 import Data.Either
     ( partitionEithers )
 import qualified Data.Map as Map
@@ -1616,13 +1617,11 @@ configurePkgconfigPackages verbosity pkg_descr progdb enabled
       version <- pkgconfig ["--modversion", pkg]
                  `catchIO`   (\_ -> die' verbosity notFound)
                  `catchExit` (\_ -> die' verbosity notFound)
-      case simpleParsec version of
-        Nothing -> die' verbosity
-                   "parsing output of pkg-config --modversion failed"
-        Just v | not (withinPkgconfigVersionRange v range) ->
-                 die' verbosity (badVersion v)
-               | otherwise ->
-                 info verbosity (depSatisfied v)
+      let trim = dropWhile isSpace . dropWhileEnd isSpace
+      let v = PkgconfigVersion (toUTF8BS $ trim version)
+      if not (withinPkgconfigVersionRange v range)
+      then die' verbosity (badVersion v)
+      else info verbosity (depSatisfied v)
       where
         notFound     = "The pkg-config package '" ++ pkg ++ "'"
                     ++ versionRequirement
diff --git a/Cabal/Distribution/Types/Dependency.hs b/Cabal/Distribution/Types/Dependency.hs
index 73a99e43b008d01c7756cbdb8abc7060dae430be..08d4779dfd37bfbd82d552e950183c9072207ba8 100644
--- a/Cabal/Distribution/Types/Dependency.hs
+++ b/Cabal/Distribution/Types/Dependency.hs
@@ -57,9 +57,9 @@ instance NFData Dependency where rnf = genericRnf
 
 instance Pretty Dependency where
     pretty (Dependency name ver sublibs) = pretty name
-                                       <+> optionalMonoid
-                                             (sublibs /= Set.singleton LMainLibName)
-                                             (PP.colon <+> PP.braces prettySublibs)
+                                       <<>> optionalMonoid
+                                            (sublibs /= Set.singleton LMainLibName)
+                                            (PP.colon <<>> PP.braces prettySublibs)
                                        <+> pretty ver
       where
         optionalMonoid True x = x
@@ -81,12 +81,40 @@ versionGuardMultilibs expr = do
   else
     expr
 
+-- |
+--
+-- >>> simpleParsec "mylib:sub" :: Maybe Dependency
+-- Just (Dependency (PackageName "mylib") AnyVersion (fromList [LSubLibName (UnqualComponentName "sub")]))
+--
+-- >>> simpleParsec "mylib:{sub1,sub2}" :: Maybe Dependency
+-- Just (Dependency (PackageName "mylib") AnyVersion (fromList [LSubLibName (UnqualComponentName "sub1"),LSubLibName (UnqualComponentName "sub2")]))
+--
+-- >>> simpleParsec "mylib:{ sub1 , sub2 }" :: Maybe Dependency
+-- Just (Dependency (PackageName "mylib") AnyVersion (fromList [LSubLibName (UnqualComponentName "sub1"),LSubLibName (UnqualComponentName "sub2")]))
+--
+-- >>> simpleParsec "mylib:{ sub1 , sub2 } ^>= 42" :: Maybe Dependency
+-- Just (Dependency (PackageName "mylib") (MajorBoundVersion (mkVersion [42])) (fromList [LSubLibName (UnqualComponentName "sub1"),LSubLibName (UnqualComponentName "sub2")]))
+--
+-- Spaces around colon are not allowed:
+--
+-- >>> simpleParsec "mylib: sub" :: Maybe Dependency
+-- Nothing
+--
+-- >>> simpleParsec "mylib :sub" :: Maybe Dependency
+-- Nothing
+--
+-- >>> simpleParsec "mylib: {sub1,sub2}" :: Maybe Dependency
+-- Nothing
+--
+-- >>> simpleParsec "mylib :{sub1,sub2}" :: Maybe Dependency
+-- Nothing
+--
 instance Parsec Dependency where
     parsec = do
-        name <- lexemeParsec
+        name <- parsec
 
         libs <- option [LMainLibName]
-              $ (char ':' *> spaces *>)
+              $ (char ':' *>)
               $ versionGuardMultilibs
               $ pure <$> parseLib name <|> parseMultipleLibs name
 
diff --git a/Cabal/Distribution/Types/PkgconfigVersion.hs b/Cabal/Distribution/Types/PkgconfigVersion.hs
index ec5145becfb6f35ae36408f962cd6c584051da5a..e79fefb9e5f2e29d69c475577339f19faf4a10c2 100644
--- a/Cabal/Distribution/Types/PkgconfigVersion.hs
+++ b/Cabal/Distribution/Types/PkgconfigVersion.hs
@@ -40,6 +40,14 @@ instance NFData PkgconfigVersion where rnf = genericRnf
 instance Pretty PkgconfigVersion where
     pretty (PkgconfigVersion bs) = PP.text (BS8.unpack bs)
 
+-- |
+--
+-- >>> simpleParsec "1.0.2n" :: Maybe PkgconfigVersion
+-- Just (PkgconfigVersion "1.0.2n")
+--
+-- >>> simpleParsec "0.3.5+ds" :: Maybe PkgconfigVersion
+-- Nothing
+--
 instance Parsec PkgconfigVersion where
     parsec = PkgconfigVersion . BS8.pack <$> P.munch1 predicate where
         predicate c = isAsciiAlphaNum c || c == '.' || c == '-'
diff --git a/Cabal/tests/ParserTests/regressions/issue-5846.format b/Cabal/tests/ParserTests/regressions/issue-5846.format
index 7ddb6afaee1a27d3afa4292e1039af94b97de83e..bd742612afd95bd5995bdeee5e1c5fde7a5cf677 100644
--- a/Cabal/tests/ParserTests/regressions/issue-5846.format
+++ b/Cabal/tests/ParserTests/regressions/issue-5846.format
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ version:       5846
 library
     default-language: Haskell2010
     build-depends:
-        lib1 : {a, b} -any,
-        lib2 : {c} -any,
-        lib3 : {d} >=1,
-        lib4 : {a, b} >=1
+        lib1:{a, b} -any,
+        lib2:{c} -any,
+        lib3:{d} >=1,
+        lib4:{a, b} >=1
diff --git a/cabal-testsuite/PackageTests/MultipleLibraries/cabal.out b/cabal-testsuite/PackageTests/MultipleLibraries/cabal.out
index 7e51c00ef041efef4289af30248ad301673f3ada..78899c26837f3d2a98f98386fd19391183c33b24 100644
--- a/cabal-testsuite/PackageTests/MultipleLibraries/cabal.out
+++ b/cabal-testsuite/PackageTests/MultipleLibraries/cabal.out
@@ -9,4 +9,4 @@ Preprocessing library 'privatelib' for d-0.1.0.0..
 Building library 'privatelib' for d-0.1.0.0..
 Configuring library for p-0.1.0.0..
 cabal: Encountered missing or private dependencies:
-    d : {privatelib} ==0.1.0.0
+    d:{privatelib} ==0.1.0.0