diff --git a/Data/UUID.hs b/Data/UUID.hs
--- a/Data/UUID.hs
+++ b/Data/UUID.hs
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
                 ,null
                 ) where
 
+import Prelude hiding (null)
 import Data.UUID.Internal
 
 -- Everything is really implemented in Data.UUID.Internal,
diff --git a/Data/UUID/Internal.hs b/Data/UUID/Internal.hs
--- a/Data/UUID/Internal.hs
+++ b/Data/UUID/Internal.hs
@@ -12,7 +12,9 @@
 
 module Data.UUID.Internal
     (UUID(..)
+    ,null
     ,Node(..)
+    ,nullNode
     ,nodeToList
     ,listToNode
     ,fromString
@@ -22,6 +24,9 @@
     ,reserved
     ) where
 
+import Prelude hiding (null)
+import qualified Prelude
+
 import Data.Word
 import Data.Char
 import Data.Maybe
@@ -30,10 +35,10 @@
 
 import Data.Typeable
 
-#ifdef BASE_3_SUPPORT 
-import Data.Generics.Basics
-#else
+#if MIN_VERSION_base(4,0,0)
 import Data.Data
+#else
+import Data.Generics.Basics
 #endif
 
 import Foreign.Ptr
@@ -54,7 +59,7 @@
 #endif
 
 -- |The UUID type.  A 'Random' instance is provided which produces
--- version 3 UUIDs as specified in RFC 4122.  The 'Storable' and 
+-- version 4 UUIDs as specified in RFC 4122.  The 'Storable' and 
 -- 'Binary' instances are compatable with RFC 4122.  The 'Binary'
 -- instance serializes to network byte order.
 data UUID = UUID
@@ -66,6 +71,11 @@
     ,uuid_node :: SLOT(Node)
     } deriving (Eq, Ord, Typeable)
 
+-- |Returns true if the passed-in UUID is the null UUID.
+null :: UUID -> Bool
+null (UUID 0 0 0 0 0 node) | nullNode node = True
+null _ = False
+
 instance Random UUID where
     random g = let (timeLow, g1)  = randomBoundedIntegral g
                    (timeMid, g2)  = randomBoundedIntegral g1
@@ -110,6 +120,9 @@
                in (Node w1 w2 w3 w4 w5 w6, g6)
     randomR _ = random -- neglect range
 
+nullNode :: Node -> Bool
+nullNode (Node 0 0 0 0 0 0) = True
+nullNode _ = False
 
 nodeToList :: Node -> [Word8]
 nodeToList (Node w1 w2 w3 w4 w5 w6) = [w1, w2, w3, w4, w5, w6]
diff --git a/uuid.cabal b/uuid.cabal
--- a/uuid.cabal
+++ b/uuid.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name: uuid
-Version: 1.0.2
+Version: 1.1.1
 Copyright: (c) 2008 Antoine Latter
 Author: Antoine Latter
 Maintainer: aslatter@gmail.com
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 
 Category: Data
 Build-Type: Simple
-Cabal-Version: >= 1.2.3
+Cabal-Version: >= 1.6
 
 Description:
  This library is useful for creating, comparing, parsing and
@@ -19,19 +19,9 @@
 
 Homepage: http://community.haskell.org/~aslatter/code/uuid/
 
-Flag Base3
-  Default: False
-  Description: Set when support for base package version 3 is required.
-
 Library
  Build-Depends: random, binary, bytestring, Crypto, maccatcher,
-                time
-
- if flag(Base3)
-   Build-Depends: base >= 3, base < 4
-   CPP-Options: -DBASE_3_SUPPORT
- else
-   Build-Depends: base >=4, base < 5
+                time, base >=3, base < 5
 
  Exposed-Modules:
    Data.UUID