diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 0ea418dac..63cbcd20d 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -24,8 +24,10 @@ before_install:
 install:
  - cabal-$CABALVER update
 # - git clone https://github.com/jgm/pandoc-types && cd pandoc-types && cabal-1.18 install && cd ..
- - cabal-$CABALVER install hsb2hs
  - cabal-$CABALVER install $JOPTS --only-dependencies --enable-tests
+# hsb2hs is needed for -fembed_data_files, and is needed for sdist on
+# older cabal versions (1.16):
+ - cabal-$CABALVER install hsb2hs
 
 # 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: