diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/ghc-6.8/head.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/ghc-6.8/head.nix
index 21f5859d28a..e274070036a 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/ghc-6.8/head.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/ghc-6.8/head.nix
@@ -1,19 +1,19 @@
-{stdenv, fetchurl, readline, ghc, perl, m4, gmp, ncurses}:
+{stdenv, fetchurl, readline, ghc, happy, alex, perl, m4, gmp, ncurses, haskellEditline}:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation (rec {
-  name = "ghc-6.9.20080615";
+  name = "ghc-6.9.20080719";
   homepage = "http://www.haskell.org/ghc";
 
   src = map fetchurl [
     { url    = "${homepage}/dist/current/dist/${name}-src.tar.bz2";
-      sha256 = "705a43506a4e4c2449c26eb5179c810dbeab7eda519c222670e67313eae167c1";
+      sha256 = "ed2371c3632962fccab6ec60c04e9fc6a38f3ade3a30a464cea5d53784bc3a34";
     }
     { url    = "${homepage}/dist/current/dist/${name}-src-extralibs.tar.bz2";
-      sha256 = "39c573e57346069d80adff61cea239d382f66c43201948e4cee4305bb58eca88";
+      sha256 = "d3c7aa7d53befe268f92148cc8f3b0861dfdc84e9b21b039af0f5b230bfbf72b";
     }
   ];
 
-  buildInputs = [ghc readline perl m4 gmp];
+  buildInputs = [ghc readline perl m4 gmp happy alex haskellEditline];
 
   # The setup hook is executed by other packages building with ghc.
   # It then looks for package configurations that are available and
@@ -31,14 +31,15 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (rec {
     "--with-gcc=${gcc}/bin/gcc"
   ];
 
-  # preConfigure = "
-  #   # still requires a hack for ncurses
-  #   sed -i \"s|^\\\(ld-options.*$\\\)|\\\1 -L${ncurses}/lib|\" libraries/readline/readline.buildinfo.in
-  # ";
-
   preConfigure = ''
     # should not be present in a clean distribution
     rm utils/pwd/pwd
+    # fix bug in makefile
+    sed -i -e 's/:\\"//' -e 's/\\"//' mk/config.mk.in
+  '';
+
+  postInstall = ''
+    ln -s $out/lib/${name}/ghc $out/lib/${name}/${name}
   '';
 
   inherit (stdenv) gcc;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/editline/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/editline/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ef1ade22289
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/editline/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, ncurses }:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  name = "editline-2.11";
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = http://www.thrysoee.dk/editline/libedit-20080712-2.11.tar.gz;
+    sha256 = "6ff51a15d1ada16c44be0f32a539b492cd3b0286c3dfa413915525f55851d1e6";
+  };
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [ ncurses ];
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 3ce9451ad3e..46e63b014c4 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -1560,7 +1560,7 @@ let pkgs = rec {
   };
 
   ghc69snapshot = lowPrio (import ../development/compilers/ghc-6.8/head.nix {
-    inherit fetchurl stdenv readline perl gmp ncurses m4;
+    inherit fetchurl stdenv readline perl gmp ncurses m4 happy alex haskellEditline;
     ghc = ghc683;
   });
 
@@ -2573,6 +2573,10 @@ let pkgs = rec {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv perl;
   };
 
+  editline = import ../development/libraries/editline {
+    inherit fetchurl stdenv ncurses;
+  };
+
   enchant = selectVersion ../development/libraries/enchant "1.3.0" {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv aspell pkgconfig;
     inherit (gnome) glib;
@@ -3718,6 +3722,10 @@ let pkgs = rec {
     inherit (gnome) gtk glib GConf libglade libgtkhtml gtkhtml;
   };
 
+  haskellEditline = import ../development/libraries/haskell/editline {
+    inherit cabal editline;
+  };
+
   HDBC = import ../development/libraries/haskell/HDBC/HDBC-1.1.4.nix {
     inherit cabal;
   };