diff --git a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/configuration-common.nix b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/configuration-common.nix
index 3ff96bf2544..174ab1a8a7a 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/configuration-common.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/configuration-common.nix
@@ -1178,4 +1178,16 @@ self: super: {
   hlint = super.hlint.overrideScope (self: super: { haskell-src-exts = self.haskell-src-exts_1_21_0; });
   hoogle = super.hoogle.overrideScope (self: super: { haskell-src-exts = self.haskell-src-exts_1_21_0; });
 
+  # jailbreak tasty < 1.2: https://github.com/phadej/tdigest/issues/30
+  tdigest = doJailbreak super.tdigest; # until tdigest > 0.2.1
+
+  # These patches contain fixes for 8.6 that should be safe for
+  # earlier versions, but we need the relaxed version bounds in GHC
+  # 8.4 builds. beam needs to release a round of updates that relax
+  # bounds and include the 8.6 fixes:
+  # https://github.com/tathougies/beam/issues/315
+  beam-core = appendPatch super.beam-core ./patches/beam-core-fix-ghc-8.6.x-build.patch;
+  beam-migrate = appendPatch super.beam-migrate ./patches/beam-migrate-fix-ghc-8.6.x-build.patch;
+  beam-postgres = appendPatch super.beam-postgres ./patches/beam-postgres-fix-ghc-8.6.x-build.patch;
+  beam-sqlite = appendPatch super.beam-sqlite ./patches/beam-sqlite-fix-ghc-8.6.x-build.patch;
 } // import ./configuration-tensorflow.nix {inherit pkgs haskellLib;} self super
diff --git a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/patches/beam-core-fix-ghc-8.6.x-build.patch b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/patches/beam-core-fix-ghc-8.6.x-build.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e5ad00ee009
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/patches/beam-core-fix-ghc-8.6.x-build.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+diff --git a/beam-core/Database/Beam/Backend/SQL.hs b/beam-core/Database/Beam/Backend/SQL.hs
+index e2cd37d0..6f9db126 100644
+--- a/Database/Beam/Backend/SQL.hs
++++ b/Database/Beam/Backend/SQL.hs
+@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
+ import Database.Beam.Backend.Types
+ 
+ import Control.Monad.IO.Class
++import Control.Monad.Fail (MonadFail)
+ 
+ -- * MonadBeam class
+ 
+@@ -29,7 +30,7 @@
+ --   strategies. More complicated strategies (for example, Postgres's @COPY@)
+ --   are supported in individual backends. See the documentation of those
+ --   backends for more details.
+-class (BeamBackend be, Monad m, MonadIO m, Sql92SanityCheck syntax) =>
++class (BeamBackend be, Monad m, MonadIO m, MonadFail m, Sql92SanityCheck syntax) =>
+   MonadBeam syntax be handle m | m -> syntax be handle where
+ 
+   {-# MINIMAL withDatabaseDebug, runReturningMany #-}
+diff --git a/Database/Beam/Backend/SQL/Builder.hs b/Database/Beam/Backend/SQL/Builder.hs
+index 9e734036..e9849912 100644
+--- a/Database/Beam/Backend/SQL/Builder.hs
++++ b/Database/Beam/Backend/SQL/Builder.hs
+@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
+ import           Data.Hashable
+ import           Data.Int
+ import           Data.String
++import qualified Control.Monad.Fail as Fail
+ #if !MIN_VERSION_base(4, 11, 0)
+ import           Data.Semigroup
+ #endif
+@@ -507,8 +508,10 @@
+   type BackendFromField SqlSyntaxBackend = Trivial
+ 
+ newtype SqlSyntaxM a = SqlSyntaxM (IO a)
+-  deriving (Applicative, Functor, Monad, MonadIO)
++  deriving (Applicative, Functor, Monad, MonadIO, Fail.MonadFail)
+ 
+ instance MonadBeam SqlSyntaxBuilder SqlSyntaxBackend SqlSyntaxBackend SqlSyntaxM where
+-  withDatabaseDebug _ _ _ = fail "absurd"
+-  runReturningMany _ _ = fail "absurd"
++  withDatabaseDebug _ _ _ = Fail.fail "absurd"
++  runReturningMany _ _ = Fail.fail "absurd"
++
++
+diff --git a/Database/Beam/Schema/Lenses.hs b/Database/Beam/Schema/Lenses.hs
+index b21dddb6..5df0654c 100644
+--- a/Database/Beam/Schema/Lenses.hs
++++ b/Database/Beam/Schema/Lenses.hs
+@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
+ {-# LANGUAGE PolyKinds #-}
++{-# LANGUAGE UndecidableInstances #-}
+ module Database.Beam.Schema.Lenses
+     ( tableLenses
+     , TableLens(..)
+diff --git a/beam-core.cabal b/beam-core.cabal
+index 4bf4ffd9..251d4d85 100644
+--- a/beam-core.cabal
++++ b/beam-core.cabal
+@@ -64,8 +64,8 @@
+                        time         >=1.6     && <1.10,
+                        hashable     >=1.1     && <1.3,
+                        network-uri  >=2.6     && <2.7,
+-                       containers   >=0.5     && <0.6,
+-                       vector-sized >=0.5     && <1.1,
++                       containers   >=0.5     && <0.7,
++                       vector-sized >=0.5     && <1.3,
+                        tagged       >=0.8     && <0.9
+   Default-language:    Haskell2010
+   default-extensions:  ScopedTypeVariables, OverloadedStrings, GADTs, RecursiveDo, FlexibleInstances, FlexibleContexts, TypeFamilies,
diff --git a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/patches/beam-migrate-fix-ghc-8.6.x-build.patch b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/patches/beam-migrate-fix-ghc-8.6.x-build.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b715140be0a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/patches/beam-migrate-fix-ghc-8.6.x-build.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+diff --git a/Database/Beam/Migrate/Generics/Types.hs b/Database/Beam/Migrate/Generics/Types.hs
+index 553e208b..0cf9b2c8 100644
+--- a/Database/Beam/Migrate/Generics/Types.hs
++++ b/Database/Beam/Migrate/Generics/Types.hs
+@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
++{-# LANGUAGE UndecidableInstances #-}
++
+ module Database.Beam.Migrate.Generics.Types where
+ 
+ import           Database.Beam.Migrate.Types
+diff --git a/beam-migrate.cabal b/beam-migrate.cabal
+index f53b280d..9cf3722c 100644
+--- a/beam-migrate.cabal
++++ b/beam-migrate.cabal
+@@ -69,13 +69,12 @@ library
+                        mtl                  >=2.2     && <2.3,
+                        scientific           >=0.3     && <0.4,
+                        vector               >=0.11    && <0.13,
+-                       containers           >=0.5     && <0.6,
+                        unordered-containers >=0.2     && <0.3,
+                        hashable             >=1.2     && <1.3,
+                        parallel             >=3.2     && <3.3,
+                        deepseq              >=1.4     && <1.5,
+                        ghc-prim             >=0.5     && <0.6,
+-                       containers           >=0.5     && <0.6,
++                       containers           >=0.5     && <0.7,
+                        haskell-src-exts     >=1.18    && <1.21,
+                        pretty               >=1.1     && <1.2,
+                        dependent-map        >=0.2     && <0.3,
diff --git a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/patches/beam-postgres-fix-ghc-8.6.x-build.patch b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/patches/beam-postgres-fix-ghc-8.6.x-build.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ede2bce1257
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/patches/beam-postgres-fix-ghc-8.6.x-build.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+diff --git a/Database/Beam/Postgres/Connection.hs b/Database/Beam/Postgres/Connection.hs
+index 433f55b9..5836c53d 100644
+--- a/Database/Beam/Postgres/Connection.hs
++++ b/Database/Beam/Postgres/Connection.hs
+@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@ import qualified Database.PostgreSQL.Simple.Types as Pg (Null(..), Query(..))
+ 
+ import           Control.Monad.Reader
+ import           Control.Monad.State
++import           Control.Monad.Fail (MonadFail)
++import qualified Control.Monad.Fail as Fail
+ 
+ import           Data.ByteString (ByteString)
+ import           Data.ByteString.Builder (toLazyByteString, byteString)
+@@ -302,6 +304,9 @@ deriving instance Functor PgF
+ newtype Pg a = Pg { runPg :: F PgF a }
+     deriving (Monad, Applicative, Functor, MonadFree PgF)
+ 
++instance MonadFail Pg where
++    fail e = fail $ "Internal Error with: " <> show e
++
+ instance MonadIO Pg where
+     liftIO x = liftF (PgLiftIO x id)
+ 
+diff --git a/beam-postgres.cabal b/beam-postgres.cabal
+index e14b84f5..d29a5b67 100644
+--- a/beam-postgres.cabal
++++ b/beam-postgres.cabal
+@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ library
+                       beam-migrate         >=0.3  && <0.4,
+ 
+                       postgresql-libpq     >=0.8  && <0.10,
+-                      postgresql-simple    >=0.5  && <0.6,
++                      postgresql-simple    >=0.5  && <0.7,
+ 
+                       text                 >=1.0  && <1.3,
+                       bytestring           >=0.10 && <0.11,
+@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ library
+ 
+                       hashable             >=1.1  && <1.3,
+                       lifted-base          >=0.2  && <0.3,
+-                      free                 >=4.12 && <5.1,
++                      free                 >=4.12 && <5.2,
+                       time                 >=1.6  && <1.10,
+                       monad-control        >=1.0  && <1.1,
+                       mtl                  >=2.1  && <2.3,
diff --git a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/patches/beam-sqlite-fix-ghc-8.6.x-build.patch b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/patches/beam-sqlite-fix-ghc-8.6.x-build.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ebfca8a2f65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/patches/beam-sqlite-fix-ghc-8.6.x-build.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+diff --git a/Database/Beam/Sqlite/Connection.hs b/Database/Beam/Sqlite/Connection.hs
+index f034b272..4e459ea3 100644
+--- a/Database/Beam/Sqlite/Connection.hs
++++ b/Database/Beam/Sqlite/Connection.hs
+@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ import           Database.SQLite.Simple.Types (Null)
+ 
+ import           Control.Exception (bracket_, onException, mask)
+ import           Control.Monad (forM_, replicateM_)
++import           Control.Monad.Fail (MonadFail)
+ import           Control.Monad.Free.Church
+ import           Control.Monad.IO.Class (MonadIO(..))
+ import           Control.Monad.Identity (Identity)
+@@ -143,7 +144,7 @@ newtype SqliteM a
+   { runSqliteM :: ReaderT (String -> IO (), Connection) IO a
+     -- ^ Run an IO action with access to a SQLite connection and a debug logging
+     -- function, called or each query submitted on the connection.
+-  } deriving (Monad, Functor, Applicative, MonadIO)
++  } deriving (Monad, Functor, Applicative, MonadIO, MonadFail)
+ 
+ newtype BeamSqliteParams = BeamSqliteParams [SQLData]
+ instance ToRow BeamSqliteParams where