diff --git a/hledger.cabal b/hledger.cabal
index a9ceed773..cee281a6e 100644
--- a/hledger.cabal
+++ b/hledger.cabal
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ executable hledger
                  ,time
                  ,utf8-string >= 0.3 && < 0.4
                  ,HUnit
+                 ,safe >= 0.2
 
   -- should set patchlevel here as in Makefile
   cpp-options:    -DPATCHLEVEL=0