diff --git a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/generic-builder.nix b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/generic-builder.nix
index 495fd541770..43ab69689d9 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/generic-builder.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/generic-builder.nix
@@ -137,9 +137,10 @@ let
     (enableFeature enableExecutableProfiling (if versionOlder ghc.version "8" then "executable-profiling" else "profiling"))
     (enableFeature enableSharedLibraries "shared")
     (optionalString (versionAtLeast ghc.version "7.10") (enableFeature doCoverage "coverage"))
-    (optionalString (isGhcjs || versionOlder "7" ghc.version) (enableFeature enableStaticLibraries "library-vanilla"))
+    (optionalString (versionOlder "8.4" ghc.version) (enableFeature enableStaticLibraries "static"))
     (optionalString (isGhcjs || versionOlder "7.4" ghc.version) (enableFeature enableSharedExecutables "executable-dynamic"))
     (optionalString (isGhcjs || versionOlder "7" ghc.version) (enableFeature doCheck "tests"))
+    "--enable-library-vanilla"  # TODO: Should this be configurable?
     "--enable-library-for-ghci" # TODO: Should this be configurable?
   ] ++ optionals (enableDeadCodeElimination && (stdenv.lib.versionOlder "8.0.1" ghc.version)) [
      "--ghc-option=-split-sections"