diff --git a/Stackage/LoadDatabase.hs b/Stackage/LoadDatabase.hs
index cf578ca9..2f9f99f2 100644
--- a/Stackage/LoadDatabase.hs
+++ b/Stackage/LoadDatabase.hs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE CPP #-}
 module Stackage.LoadDatabase where
 
 import qualified Codec.Archive.Tar                     as Tar
@@ -43,8 +44,11 @@ loadPackageDB core deps = do
     lbs <- L.readFile tarName
     addEntries mempty $ Tar.read lbs
   where
-    addEntries :: PackageDB -> Tar.Entries Tar.FormatError -> IO PackageDB
+#if MIN_VERSION_tar(0, 4, 0)
     addEntries _ (Tar.Fail e) = throwIO e
+#else
+    addEntries _ (Tar.Fail e) = error e
+#endif
     addEntries db Tar.Done = return db
     addEntries db (Tar.Next e es) = addEntry db e >>= flip addEntries es
 
diff --git a/Stackage/Tarballs.hs b/Stackage/Tarballs.hs
index b7e5903a..bfe8c28f 100644
--- a/Stackage/Tarballs.hs
+++ b/Stackage/Tarballs.hs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE CPP #-}
 module Stackage.Tarballs
     ( makeTarballs
     ) where
@@ -26,7 +27,11 @@ makeTarballs ii = do
     createDirectoryIfMissing True $ takeDirectory extraTar
     L.writeFile extraTar $ Tar.write extraEntries
   where
+#if MIN_VERSION_tar(0, 4, 0)
     loop _ _ (Tar.Fail err) = throwIO err
+#else
+    loop _ _ (Tar.Fail err) = error err
+#endif
     loop stable extra Tar.Done = return (stable [], extra [])
     loop stable extra (Tar.Next e es) =
         loop stable' extra' es
diff --git a/stackage.cabal b/stackage.cabal
index 12862811..84d7aa8a 100644
--- a/stackage.cabal
+++ b/stackage.cabal
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ library
   build-depends:       base >= 4 && < 5
                      , containers
                      , Cabal
-                     , tar >= 0.4
+                     , tar >= 0.3
                      , bytestring
                      , directory
                      , filepath