diff --git a/CHANGELOG.markdown b/CHANGELOG.markdown
--- a/CHANGELOG.markdown
+++ b/CHANGELOG.markdown
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+3.8.0.1
+-------
+* Fixed an issue with running the `doctests` test suite when an older version of `semigroups` is installed.
+
 3.8
 ---
 * Overall:
diff --git a/lens.cabal b/lens.cabal
--- a/lens.cabal
+++ b/lens.cabal
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 name:          lens
 category:      Data, Lenses
-version:       3.8
+version:       3.8.0.1
 license:       BSD3
 cabal-version: >= 1.8
 license-file:  LICENSE
@@ -158,6 +158,10 @@
   default: False
   manual: True
 
+flag old-semigroups
+  default: False
+  manual: False
+
 library
   build-depends:
     array                     >= 0.3.0.2  && < 0.5,
@@ -361,13 +365,17 @@
       doctest >= 0.9.1,
       filepath,
       mtl,
-      nats,
       parallel,
       simple-reflect >= 0.3.1,
       split,
       text,
       unordered-containers,
       vector
+
+  if !flag(old-semigroups)
+    build-depends: semigroups >= 0.8.4 && < 0.9
+  else
+    build-depends: semigroups >= 0.9, nats
   ghc-options: -Wall -threaded
   if impl(ghc<7.6.1)
     ghc-options: -Werror