diff --git a/hackage-db.cabal b/hackage-db.cabal
--- a/hackage-db.cabal
+++ b/hackage-db.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:                   hackage-db
-Version:                1.7
+Version:                1.8
 Copyright:              Peter Simons
 License:                BSD3
 License-File:           LICENSE
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 Synopsis:               provide access to the Hackage database via Data.Map
 Cabal-Version:          >= 1.6
 Build-Type:             Simple
-Tested-With:            GHC >= 6.12.3 && <= 7.6.3
+Tested-With:            GHC >= 6.10.4 && <= 7.8.3
 Description:
    This module provides simple access to the Hackage database by means
    of @Data.Map@. Suppose you wanted to implement a utility that queries
@@ -51,5 +51,3 @@
   hs-source-dirs:       src
   Ghc-Options:          -Wall
   Exposed-Modules:      Distribution.Hackage.DB
-  if os(darwin)
-    Cpp-Options:          -DIS_DARWIN
diff --git a/src/Distribution/Hackage/DB.hs b/src/Distribution/Hackage/DB.hs
--- a/src/Distribution/Hackage/DB.hs
+++ b/src/Distribution/Hackage/DB.hs
@@ -1,20 +1,16 @@
-{-# LANGUAGE CPP #-}
 {- |
    Module      :  Distribution.Hackage.DB
    License     :  BSD3
-
    Maintainer  :  simons@cryp.to
    Stability   :  provisional
    Portability :  portable
 
    This module provides simple access to the Hackage database by means
-   of 'Map'. Note that once the database has been parsed, it can be
-   accessed quickly, but the inital cost of reading @00-index.tar@ is
-   fairly high.
+   of 'Map'.
  -}
 
 module Distribution.Hackage.DB
-  ( Hackage, readHackage, readHackage', parseHackage
+  ( Hackage, readHackage, readHackage', parseHackage, hackagePath
   , module Data.Map
   , module Data.Version
   , module Distribution.Package
@@ -22,19 +18,20 @@
   )
   where
 
-import qualified Codec.Archive.Tar as Tar
-import Data.ByteString.Lazy.Char8 ( ByteString )
-import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy.Char8 as BS8
-import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy as BSC
-import Data.String.UTF8 ( toString, fromRep )
 import Data.Map
-import Data.Maybe
 import Data.Version
-import System.Directory
-import System.FilePath
 import Distribution.Package
-import Distribution.Text
 import Distribution.PackageDescription
+
+import qualified Codec.Archive.Tar as Tar
+import Data.ByteString.Lazy.Char8 ( ByteString )
+import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy.Char8 as BS8 ( readFile )
+import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy as BSC ( unpack )
+import Data.String.UTF8 ( toString, fromRep )
+import Data.Maybe ( fromMaybe )
+import System.Directory ( getHomeDirectory )
+import System.FilePath ( joinPath, splitDirectories )
+import Distribution.Text ( simpleParse )
 import Distribution.PackageDescription.Parse ( parsePackageDescription, ParseResult(..) )
 
 -- | A 'Map' representation of the Hackage database. For sake of
@@ -43,21 +40,11 @@
 
 type Hackage = Map String (Map Version GenericPackageDescription)
 
--- | Read the Hackage database from
--- @$HOME\/@/<package database path>/@\/hackage.haskell.org\/00-index.tar@ and
--- return a 'Map' that provides fast access to its contents. That @tar@
--- file is typically created by running the command @\"cabal update\"@.
+-- | Read the Hackage database from the location determined by 'hackagePath'
+-- and return a 'Map' that provides fast access to its contents.
 
 readHackage :: IO Hackage
-readHackage = do
-  homedir <- getHomeDirectory
-  readHackage' (joinPath [ homedir,
-#ifdef IS_DARWIN
-    "Library", "Haskell", "repo-cache"
-#else
-    ".cabal", "packages"
-#endif
-    , "hackage.haskell.org", "00-index.tar" ])
+readHackage = hackagePath >>= readHackage'
 
 -- | Read the Hackage database from the given 'FilePath' and return a
 -- 'Hackage' map that provides fast access to its contents.
@@ -91,3 +78,12 @@
 
     pVersion :: String -> Version
     pVersion str = fromMaybe (error $ "Hackage.DB.parseHackage: cannot parse version " ++ show str) (simpleParse str)
+
+-- | Determine the default path of the Hackage database, which typically
+-- resides at @"$HOME\/.cabal\/packages\/hackage.haskell.org\/00-index.tar"@.
+-- Running the command @"cabal update"@ will keep that file up-to-date.
+
+hackagePath :: IO FilePath
+hackagePath = do
+  homedir <- getHomeDirectory
+  return $ joinPath [homedir, ".cabal", "packages", "hackage.haskell.org", "00-index.tar"]