diff --git a/Distribution/PackageDescription/Parse.hs b/Distribution/PackageDescription/Parse.hs
index 21f9cd222b4..97705f0953c 100644
--- a/Distribution/PackageDescription/Parse.hs
+++ b/Distribution/PackageDescription/Parse.hs
@@ -213,13 +213,13 @@ binfoFieldDescrs =
  , commaListField  "build-tools"
            disp               parseBuildTool
            buildTools         (\xs  binfo -> binfo{buildTools=xs})
- , listField "cpp-options"
+ , spaceListField "cpp-options"
            showToken          parseTokenQ
            cppOptions          (\val binfo -> binfo{cppOptions=val})
- , listField "cc-options"
+ , spaceListField "cc-options"
            showToken          parseTokenQ
            ccOptions          (\val binfo -> binfo{ccOptions=val})
- , listField "ld-options"
+ , spaceListField "ld-options"
            showToken          parseTokenQ
            ldOptions          (\val binfo -> binfo{ldOptions=val})
  , commaListField  "pkgconfig-depends"
diff --git a/Distribution/ParseUtils.hs b/Distribution/ParseUtils.hs
index 3f7f04a55d8..b58319f9d4a 100644
--- a/Distribution/ParseUtils.hs
+++ b/Distribution/ParseUtils.hs
@@ -59,8 +59,8 @@ module Distribution.ParseUtils (
         parseTestedWithQ, parseLicenseQ, parseExtensionQ,
         parseSepList, parseCommaList, parseOptCommaList,
         showFilePath, showToken, showTestedWith, showFreeText,
-        field, simpleField, listField, commaListField, optsField, liftField,
-        boolField, parseQuoted,
+        field, simpleField, listField, spaceListField, commaListField,
+        optsField, liftField, boolField, parseQuoted,
 
         UnrecFieldParser, warnUnrec, ignoreUnrec,
   ) where
@@ -204,6 +204,14 @@ commaListField name showF readF get set =
   where
     set' xs b = set (get b ++ xs) b
 
+spaceListField :: String -> (a -> Doc) -> (ReadP [a] a)
+                 -> (b -> [a]) -> ([a] -> b -> b) -> FieldDescr b
+spaceListField name showF readF get set =
+  liftField get set' $
+    field name (fsep . map showF) (parseSpaceList readF)
+  where
+    set' xs b = set (get b ++ xs) b
+
 listField :: String -> (a -> Doc) -> (ReadP [a] a)
                  -> (b -> [a]) -> ([a] -> b -> b) -> FieldDescr b
 listField name showF readF get set =
@@ -605,6 +613,10 @@ parseSepList :: ReadP r b
 parseSepList sepr p = sepBy p separator
     where separator = skipSpaces >> sepr >> skipSpaces
 
+parseSpaceList :: ReadP r a -- ^The parser for the stuff between commas
+               -> ReadP r [a]
+parseSpaceList p = sepBy p skipSpaces
+
 parseCommaList :: ReadP r a -- ^The parser for the stuff between commas
                -> ReadP r [a]
 parseCommaList = parseSepList (ReadP.char ',')