diff --git a/Main.hs b/Main.hs
--- a/Main.hs
+++ b/Main.hs
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@
 import System.FilePath
 import System.IO
 
+import qualified Data.Set as S
+
 import Data.Either (partitionEithers)
 import Control.Error
 
@@ -69,7 +71,11 @@
 newtype PackageTree = PkgTree FilePath
                     deriving (Show)
 
--- | Call a package from the given directory
+-- | Call a process
+callProcessE :: FilePath -> [String] -> EitherT String IO ()
+callProcessE exec args = fmapLT show $ tryIO $ callProcess exec args
+
+-- | Call a process from the given directory
 callProcessIn :: FilePath -> FilePath -> [String] -> EitherT String IO ()
 callProcessIn dir exec args = do
     let cp = (proc exec args) { cwd = Just dir }
@@ -120,7 +126,7 @@
 buildTextBase :: PackageName -> PackageTree -> EitherT String IO TextBase
 buildTextBase (PackageName pkg) (PkgTree dir) = do
     callProcessIn dir "cabal" ["configure"]
-    callProcessIn dir "runghc" ["Setup", "haddock", "--hoogle"]
+    callProcessIn dir "cabal" ["haddock", "--hoogle"]
     let path = dir </> "dist" </> "doc" </> "html" </> pkg </> (pkg++".txt")
     TextBase <$> liftIO (BS.readFile path)
 
@@ -138,12 +144,13 @@
 
         -- install textbase if necessary
         case listToMaybe $ haddockHTMLs ipkg of
-          Just docRoot | installTextBase cfg -> do
+          Just docRoot | installTextBase cfg -> fmapLT show $ tryIO $ do
             let TextBase content = tb
                 PackageName name = pkgName $ sourcePackageId ipkg
                 tbPath = docRoot </> name++".txt"
-            liftIO $ putStrLn $ "Installing textbase to "++tbPath
-            liftIO $ BS.writeFile tbPath content
+            putStrLn $ "Installing textbase to "++tbPath
+            createDirectoryIfMissing True docRoot
+            BS.writeFile tbPath content
           Nothing | installTextBase cfg -> do
             liftIO $ putStrLn $ "Can't install textbase due to missing documentation directory"
           _ -> return ()
@@ -173,8 +180,16 @@
 
 -- | Generate a Hoogle database for an installed package
 indexPackage :: Config -> InstalledPackageInfo -> EitherT String IO Database
-indexPackage cfg ipkg = do
-    let pkg = sourcePackageId ipkg
+indexPackage cfg ipkg
+  | pkgName pkg `S.member` downloadPackages = do
+    tmpDir <- liftIO getTemporaryDirectory
+    callProcessE "hoogle" ["data", "--datadir="++tmpDir, name]
+    return $ DB $ tmpDir </> name++".hoo"
+
+  | pkgName pkg `S.member` ignorePackages =
+    left $ "Can't build documentation for "++name
+
+  | otherwise = do
     tb <- getTextBase cfg ipkg
     docRoot <- case haddockHTMLs ipkg of
                    docRoot:_ | useLocalDocs cfg -> return $ Just docRoot
@@ -188,10 +203,17 @@
     db <- convert tbf docRoot []
     liftIO $ removeFile tbf
     return db
+  where
+    downloadPackages = S.fromList $ map PackageName
+                       ["base"]
+    ignorePackages = S.fromList $ map PackageName
+                     ["rts", "ghc-prim", "integer-gmp"]
+    pkg = sourcePackageId ipkg
+    PackageName name = pkgName pkg
 
 -- | Combine Hoogle databases
-combineDBs :: [Database] -> IO Database
-combineDBs dbs = do
+combineDBs :: [Database] -> EitherT String IO Database
+combineDBs dbs = fmapLT show $ tryIO $ do
     tmpDir <- getTemporaryDirectory
     (out, h) <- openTempFile tmpDir "combined.hoo"
     hClose h
@@ -231,8 +253,16 @@
     pkgIdx <- getInstalledPackages (verbosity config) pkgDbs progCfg
     let pkgs = reverseTopologicalOrder pkgIdx
         maybeIndex :: InstalledPackageInfo -> IO (Either (PackageId, String) Database)
-        maybeIndex pkg = runEitherT $ fmapLT (sourcePackageId pkg,)
-                         $ indexPackage config pkg
+        maybeIndex pkg = do
+            putStrLn ""
+            result <- runEitherT $ indexPackage config pkg
+            case result of
+              Left e  -> do
+                let pkgId = sourcePackageId pkg
+                    PackageName name = pkgName pkgId
+                putStrLn $ "Error while indexing "++name++": "++e
+                return $ Left (pkgId, e)
+              Right r -> return $ Right r
     (failed, idxs) <- fmap partitionEithers $ mapM maybeIndex pkgs
 
     when (not $ null failed) $ do
@@ -240,7 +270,10 @@
       let failedMsg (pkgId, reason) = "  "++show (pkgName pkgId)++"\t"++reason
       putStrLn $ unlines $ map failedMsg failed
 
-    combined <- combineDBs idxs
+    combined <- runEitherT (combineDBs idxs)
+    case combined of
+      Left e -> putStrLn $ "Error while combining databases: "++e
+      Right db -> do
+        res <- runEitherT $ installDB compiler pkgIdx db
+        either print (const $ return ()) res
     mapM_ removeDB idxs
-    res <- runEitherT $ installDB compiler pkgIdx combined
-    either print (const $ return ()) res
diff --git a/hoogle-index.cabal b/hoogle-index.cabal
--- a/hoogle-index.cabal
+++ b/hoogle-index.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:                hoogle-index
-version:             0.2.2
+version:             0.3.0
 synopsis:            Easily generate Hoogle indices for installed packages
 description:         Easily generate Hoogle indices for installed packages
 homepage:            http://github.com/bgamari/hoogle-index
@@ -28,5 +28,6 @@
                        bytestring >=0.9 && <1.11,
                        temporary >=1.2 && <1.3,
                        Cabal >=1.20 && <1.21,
+                       containers >=0.4 && <0.6,
                        optparse-applicative >=0.10 && <0.11
   default-language:    Haskell2010