diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index a25fa3af0..ee585071c 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ install:
 
 # Here starts the actual work to be performed for the package under test; any command which exits with a non-zero exit code causes the build to fail.
 script:
- - cabal sdist --output-directory=build
+ - cabal-$CABALVER sdist --output-directory=build
  - cd build
  - cabal-$CABALVER configure --enable-tests -v2  # -v2 provides useful information for debugging
  - cabal-$CABALVER build $JOPTS --ghc-options=$GHCOPTS # this builds all libraries and executables (including tests/benchmarks)