diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
--- a/LICENSE
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-Copyright (c)2010, Galois, Inc.
+Copyright (c)2011, Galois, Inc.
 
 All rights reserved.
 
diff --git a/admin/cabal-config.in b/admin/cabal-config.in
--- a/admin/cabal-config.in
+++ b/admin/cabal-config.in
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
 -- preference:
 -- documentation: False
 -- doc-index-file: $datadir/doc/index.html
--- root-cmd:
+root-cmd: USE-DEFAULT
 -- symlink-bindir:
 build-summary: ./logs/build.log
 -- build-log:
diff --git a/cabal-dev.cabal b/cabal-dev.cabal
--- a/cabal-dev.cabal
+++ b/cabal-dev.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:                cabal-dev
-Version:             0.8
+Version:             0.9
 Synopsis:            Manage sandboxed Haskell build environments
 
 Description:         cabal-dev is a tool for managing development builds of
@@ -27,10 +27,11 @@
 
 License:             BSD3
 License-file:        LICENSE
-Author:              Josh Hoyt, Jonathan Daughtery, Rogan Creswick
+Author:              Josh Hoyt, Jonathan Daugherty, Rogan Creswick
 Maintainer:          j3h@galois.com, jtd@galois.com, creswick@galois.com
 Homepage:            https://github.com/creswick/cabal-dev
-Copyright:           2010 Galois, Inc.
+Bug-Reports:         https://github.com/creswick/cabal-dev/issues
+Copyright:           2011 Galois, Inc.
 Category:            Development
 Build-type:          Custom
 Cabal-version:       >=1.6
@@ -61,6 +62,7 @@
   HS-Source-Dirs: src
   Main-is: Main.hs
   GHC-Options: -Wall
+  Extensions: TemplateHaskell
 
   if flag(no-cabal-dev)
     Buildable: False
@@ -92,12 +94,12 @@
       bytestring >= 0.9 && < 0.10,
       directory >= 1.0 && < 1.3,
       filepath >= 1.1 && < 1.3,
-      Cabal >= 1.10.0.0 && < 1.11,
+      Cabal >= 1.10.0.0 && < 1.13,
       HTTP >= 4000.0.9 && < 4000.2,
       mtl >= 1.1 && < 2.1,
       network >= 2.2 && < 2.4,
-      pretty >= 1.0 && < 1.1,
-      process >= 1.0 && < 1.1,
+      pretty >= 1.0 && < 1.2,
+      process >= 1.0 && < 1.2,
       tar >= 0.3 && < 0.4,
       zlib >= 0.5 && < 0.6,
       transformers >= 0.2 && < 0.3,
@@ -137,7 +139,7 @@
   Main-is: GhcPkgCompat.hs
   Build-Depends:
     base < 5,
-    Cabal >=1.2 && < 1.11
+    Cabal >=1.2 && < 1.13
 
   GHC-Options: -Wall
   HS-Source-Dirs: src
diff --git a/src/Distribution/Dev/AddSource.hs b/src/Distribution/Dev/AddSource.hs
--- a/src/Distribution/Dev/AddSource.hs
+++ b/src/Distribution/Dev/AddSource.hs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{- Copyright (c) 2010 Galois, Inc. -}
+{- Copyright (c) 2011 Galois, Inc. -}
 {-|
 
 add-source command
diff --git a/src/Distribution/Dev/Flags.hs b/src/Distribution/Dev/Flags.hs
--- a/src/Distribution/Dev/Flags.hs
+++ b/src/Distribution/Dev/Flags.hs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{- Copyright (c) 2010 Galois, Inc. -}
+{- Copyright (c) 2011 Galois, Inc. -}
 {-# LANGUAGE CPP #-}
 module Distribution.Dev.Flags
     ( GlobalFlag(..)
diff --git a/src/Distribution/Dev/InvokeCabal.hs b/src/Distribution/Dev/InvokeCabal.hs
--- a/src/Distribution/Dev/InvokeCabal.hs
+++ b/src/Distribution/Dev/InvokeCabal.hs
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
                                            , sandbox
                                            )
 import Distribution.Dev.Utilities          ( ensureAbsolute )
-import Distribution.Dev.MergeCabalConfig   ( mergeFields )
+import Distribution.Dev.MergeCabalConfig   ( mergeFields, removeFlaggedFields )
 
 actions :: CI.CabalCommand -> CommandActions
 actions cc = CommandActions
@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@
       let rew = R.Rewrite cabalHome (sandbox s) (pkgConf s) (CI.needsQuotes features)
           cOut = show $ R.ppTopLevel $ concat $
                  R.rewriteCabalConfig rew $
+                 removeFlaggedFields $
                  foldr (flip mergeFields) userFields (devFields:extraConfigs)
 
       writeUTF8File cfgOut cOut
diff --git a/src/Distribution/Dev/MergeCabalConfig.hs b/src/Distribution/Dev/MergeCabalConfig.hs
--- a/src/Distribution/Dev/MergeCabalConfig.hs
+++ b/src/Distribution/Dev/MergeCabalConfig.hs
@@ -5,10 +5,14 @@
 -}
 module Distribution.Dev.MergeCabalConfig
     ( mergeFields
+    , isFlaggedForRemoval
+    , filterFields
+    , removeFlaggedFields
     )
 where
 
-import Data.Maybe              ( fromMaybe )
+import Data.Maybe              ( fromMaybe, mapMaybe )
+import Control.Monad           ( guard )
 import Control.Applicative     ( Applicative, Alternative, pure, empty, (<|>), (<$>) )
 import Distribution.ParseUtils ( Field(..) )
 
@@ -27,6 +31,40 @@
                        -- second argument)
 mergeFields = foldr $ \f fs ->
               fromMaybe (f:fs) $ replace (mergeField mergeFields f) fs
+
+-- |Filter a configuration based on a predicate. Filters at the top
+-- level as well as inside of Sections.
+--
+-- >>> let p f = case f of { F _ _ "bar" -> False; _ -> True; }
+-- >>> filterFields p [F 0 "foo" "bar", Section 1 "quux" "beep" [], F 2 "arf" "baz"]
+-- [Section 1 "quux" "beep" [], Field 2 "arf" "baz"]
+filterFields :: (Field -> Bool) -> [Field] -> [Field]
+filterFields p = mapMaybe $ \f -> guard (p f) >> return (recurseSection f)
+    where
+      recurseSection :: Field -> Field
+      recurseSection (Section l n a fs) = Section l n a $ filterFields p fs
+      recurseSection f                  = f
+
+-- |Look for the magic value "USE-DEFAULT" as the value of a leaf
+-- (Field). This means that there is no way to set a field to the
+-- value "USE-DEFAULT" in a cabal configuration for use with
+-- cabal-dev.
+--
+-- >>> isFlaggedForRemoval (F 0 "root-cmd" "sudo")
+-- False
+-- >>> isFlaggedForRemoval (F 0 "root-cmd" "USE-DEFAULT")
+-- True
+isFlaggedForRemoval :: Field -> Bool
+isFlaggedForRemoval (F _ _ "USE-DEFAULT") = True
+isFlaggedForRemoval _                     = False
+
+-- |Recursively remove all fields whose value is "USE-DEFAULT" from
+-- the configuration.
+--
+-- >>> removeFlaggedFields [F 0 "foo" "USE-DEFAULT", Section 1 "quux" "beep" [], F 2 "arf" "baz"]
+-- [Section 1 "quux" "beep" [], F 2 "arf" "baz"]
+removeFlaggedFields :: [Field] -> [Field]
+removeFlaggedFields = filterFields $ not . isFlaggedForRemoval
 
 -- |Attempt to merge two fields.
 --
diff --git a/src/Distribution/Dev/RewriteCabalConfig.hs b/src/Distribution/Dev/RewriteCabalConfig.hs
--- a/src/Distribution/Dev/RewriteCabalConfig.hs
+++ b/src/Distribution/Dev/RewriteCabalConfig.hs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{- Copyright (c) 2010 Galois, Inc. -}
+{- Copyright (c) 2011 Galois, Inc. -}
 {-|
 
 Rewrite the paths of a cabal-install config file, canonicalizing them
diff --git a/src/Main.hs b/src/Main.hs
--- a/src/Main.hs
+++ b/src/Main.hs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{- Copyright (c) 2010 Galois, Inc -}
+{- Copyright (c) 2011 Galois, Inc -}
 module Main
     ( main )
 where