diff --git a/cereal.cabal b/cereal.cabal
--- a/cereal.cabal
+++ b/cereal.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:                   cereal
-version:                0.5.0.0
+version:                0.5.1.0
 license:                BSD3
 license-file:           LICENSE
 author:                 Lennart Kolmodin <kolmodin@dtek.chalmers.se>,
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
         default-language:       Haskell2010
 
         build-depends:          bytestring >= 0.10.0.0,
-                                base == 4.*, containers, array,
+                                base >= 4.4 && < 5, containers, array,
                                 ghc-prim >= 0.2
 
         hs-source-dirs:         src
@@ -39,6 +39,10 @@
                                 Data.Serialize.IEEE754
 
         ghc-options:            -Wall -O2 -funbox-strict-fields
+
+        if impl(ghc >= 7.2.1)
+                                cpp-options:    -DGENERICS
+                                build-depends:  ghc-prim >= 0.2
 
 
 test-suite test-cereal