diff --git a/safecopy.cabal b/safecopy.cabal
--- a/safecopy.cabal
+++ b/safecopy.cabal
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 -- The package version. See the Haskell package versioning policy
 -- (http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Package_versioning_policy) for
 -- standards guiding when and how versions should be incremented.
-Version:             0.8.5
+Version:             0.8.6
 
 -- A short (one-line) description of the package.
 Synopsis:            Binary serialization with version control.
@@ -54,8 +54,8 @@
   Hs-Source-Dirs:      src/
 
   -- Packages needed in order to build this package.
-  Build-depends:       base >=4 && <5, array, cereal >= 0.3.1.0, bytestring, containers >= 0.3,
-                       old-time, template-haskell, text, time, vector == 0.10.*
+  Build-depends:       base >=4.5 && <5, array, cereal >= 0.3.1.0, bytestring, containers >= 0.3,
+                       old-time, template-haskell, text, time, vector >= 0.10
 
   -- Modules not exported by this package.
   Other-modules:       Data.SafeCopy.Instances, Data.SafeCopy.SafeCopy,
diff --git a/src/Data/SafeCopy/Derive.hs b/src/Data/SafeCopy/Derive.hs
--- a/src/Data/SafeCopy/Derive.hs
+++ b/src/Data/SafeCopy/Derive.hs
@@ -23,7 +23,9 @@
 #else
 import Language.Haskell.TH hiding (Kind(..))
 #endif
+#if !MIN_VERSION_base(4,8,0)
 import Control.Applicative
+#endif
 import Control.Monad
 import Data.Maybe (fromMaybe)
 #ifdef __HADDOCK__
diff --git a/src/Data/SafeCopy/Instances.hs b/src/Data/SafeCopy/Instances.hs
--- a/src/Data/SafeCopy/Instances.hs
+++ b/src/Data/SafeCopy/Instances.hs
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@
 
 import Data.SafeCopy.SafeCopy
 
+#if !MIN_VERSION_base(4,8,0)
 import           Control.Applicative
+#endif
 import           Control.Monad
 import qualified Data.Array as Array
 import qualified Data.Array.Unboxed as UArray
@@ -55,15 +57,18 @@
     = contain $ unsafeUnPack (putCopy e)
 
 instance SafeCopy a => SafeCopy [a] where
-    getCopy = contain $
-              do n <- get
-                 getSafeGet >>= replicateM n
-    putCopy lst
-        = contain $
-          do put (length lst)
-             getSafePut >>= forM_ lst
-
-    errorTypeName = typeName1
+  getCopy = contain $ do
+    n <- get
+    g <- getSafeGet
+    go g [] n
+      where
+        go :: Get a -> [a] -> Int -> Get [a]
+        go _ as 0 = return (reverse as)
+        go g as i = do x <- g
+                       x `seq` go g (x:as) (i - 1)
+  putCopy lst = contain $ do put (length lst)
+                             getSafePut >>= forM_ lst
+  errorTypeName = typeName1
 
 instance SafeCopy a => SafeCopy (Maybe a) where
     getCopy = contain $ do n <- get