diff --git a/benchmarks/ProcessRing.hs b/benchmarks/ProcessRing.hs
--- a/benchmarks/ProcessRing.hs
+++ b/benchmarks/ProcessRing.hs
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@
 the number of times to send a message around the ring
 
 -}
+
+{-# LANGUAGE BangPatterns #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE ScopedTypeVariables #-}
+
 import Control.Monad
 import Control.Distributed.Process hiding (catch)
 import Control.Distributed.Process.Node
@@ -110,4 +114,3 @@
   node <- newLocalNode transport initRemoteTable
   catch (void $ runProcess node $ initialProcess opt)
         (\(e :: SomeException) -> putStrLn $ "ERROR: " ++ (show e))
-
diff --git a/benchmarks/Spawns.hs b/benchmarks/Spawns.hs
--- a/benchmarks/Spawns.hs
+++ b/benchmarks/Spawns.hs
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE BangPatterns #-}
+
 -- | Like Throughput, but send every ping from a different process
 -- (i.e., require a lightweight connection per ping)
 import System.Environment
diff --git a/benchmarks/Throughput.hs b/benchmarks/Throughput.hs
--- a/benchmarks/Throughput.hs
+++ b/benchmarks/Throughput.hs
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE BangPatterns #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE DeriveDataTypeable #-}
+
 import System.Environment
 import Control.Monad
 import Control.Applicative
diff --git a/distributed-process.cabal b/distributed-process.cabal
--- a/distributed-process.cabal
+++ b/distributed-process.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:          distributed-process
-Version:       0.5.5
+Version:       0.5.5.1
 Cabal-Version: >=1.8
 Build-Type:    Simple
 License:       BSD3
@@ -34,11 +34,6 @@
   description: Build with Template Haskell support
   default: True
 
-flag prof
-  description: Compiling with profiling enabled
-  default: False
-
-
 flag old-locale
  description: If false then depend on time >= 1.5.
               .
@@ -59,7 +54,7 @@
                      ghc-prim >= 0.2 && < 0.5,
                      distributed-static >= 0.2 && < 0.4,
                      rank1dynamic >= 0.1 && < 0.4,
-                     syb >= 0.3 && < 0.5
+                     syb >= 0.3 && < 0.7
   Exposed-modules:   Control.Distributed.Process,
                      Control.Distributed.Process.Closure,
                      Control.Distributed.Process.Debug,
@@ -86,7 +81,6 @@
                      Control.Distributed.Process.Management.Internal.Trace.Remote,
                      Control.Distributed.Process.Management.Internal.Trace.Types,
                      Control.Distributed.Process.Management.Internal.Trace.Tracer
-  -- Extensions:     -- we use explicit per-file LANGUAGE pragmas
   ghc-options:       -Wall
   HS-Source-Dirs:    src
   if impl(ghc <= 7.4.2)
@@ -118,7 +112,6 @@
                    binary >= 0.6.3 && < 0.8
   Main-Is:         benchmarks/Throughput.hs
   ghc-options:     -Wall
-  Extensions:      BangPatterns
 
 benchmark distributed-process-latency
   Type:            exitcode-stdio-1.0
@@ -129,7 +122,6 @@
                    binary >= 0.6.3 && < 0.8
   Main-Is:         benchmarks/Latency.hs
   ghc-options:     -Wall
-  Extensions:      BangPatterns
 
 benchmark distributed-process-channels
   Type:            exitcode-stdio-1.0
@@ -140,7 +132,6 @@
                    binary >= 0.6.3 && < 0.8
   Main-Is:         benchmarks/Channels.hs
   ghc-options:     -Wall
-  Extensions:      BangPatterns
 
 benchmark distributed-process-spawns
   Type:            exitcode-stdio-1.0
@@ -151,7 +142,6 @@
                    binary >= 0.6.3 && < 0.8
   Main-Is:         benchmarks/Spawns.hs
   ghc-options:     -Wall
-  Extensions:      BangPatterns
 
 benchmark distributed-process-ring
   Type:            exitcode-stdio-1.0
@@ -161,9 +151,4 @@
                    bytestring >= 0.9 && < 0.11,
                    binary >= 0.6.3 && < 0.8
   Main-Is:         benchmarks/ProcessRing.hs
-  if flag(prof)
-    ghc-options:   -Wall -threaded -prof -auto-all -fno-prof-count-entries -rtsopts
-  else
-    ghc-options:   -Wall -threaded -O2 -rtsopts
-  Extensions:      BangPatterns,
-                   ScopedTypeVariables
+  ghc-options:     -Wall -threaded -O2 -rtsopts