diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 0691be9f964..cf65544c048 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -53,8 +53,9 @@ script:
 # built & installed.
  - function install_from_tarball {
    export SRC_TGZ=$(cabal info . | awk '{print $2 ".tar.gz";exit}') ;
+   export CABAL_LIB_VERSION=$(ghc-pkg latest Cabal | gawk 'match($0, /^Cabal-(.*)$/, a) {print a[1]}') ;
    if [ -f "dist/$SRC_TGZ" ]; then
-      cabal install "dist/$SRC_TGZ" -v2;
+      cabal install --cabal-lib-version=$CABAL_LIB_VERSION "dist/$SRC_TGZ" -v2;
    else
       echo "expected 'dist/$SRC_TGZ' not found";
       exit 1;