diff --git a/Annex.hs b/Annex.hs
index e82ffc5d1f..8f8936937e 100644
--- a/Annex.hs
+++ b/Annex.hs
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
  - Licensed under the GNU GPL version 3 or higher.
  -}
 
-{-# LANGUAGE GeneralizedNewtypeDeriving #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE GeneralizedNewtypeDeriving, TypeFamilies, MultiParamTypeClasses #-}
 
 module Annex (
 	Annex,
@@ -22,8 +22,9 @@ module Annex (
 	fromRepo,
 ) where
 
-import Control.Monad.IO.Control
 import Control.Monad.State
+import Control.Monad.Trans.Control (StM, MonadBaseControl, liftBaseWith, restoreM)
+import Control.Monad.Base (liftBase, MonadBase)
 
 import Common
 import qualified Git
@@ -45,12 +46,22 @@ newtype Annex a = Annex { runAnnex :: StateT AnnexState IO a }
 	deriving (
 		Monad,
 		MonadIO,
-		MonadControlIO,
 		MonadState AnnexState,
 		Functor,
 		Applicative
 	)
 
+instance MonadBase IO Annex where
+	liftBase = Annex . liftBase
+
+instance MonadBaseControl IO Annex where
+	newtype StM Annex a = StAnnex (StM (StateT AnnexState IO) a)
+	liftBaseWith f = Annex $ liftBaseWith $ \runInIO ->
+		f $ liftM StAnnex . runInIO . runAnnex
+	restoreM = Annex . restoreM . unStAnnex
+		where
+			unStAnnex (StAnnex st) = st
+
 data OutputType = NormalOutput | QuietOutput | JSONOutput
 
 -- internal state storage
diff --git a/Annex/Exception.hs b/Annex/Exception.hs
index c147439a1c..cb36d1bdbc 100644
--- a/Annex/Exception.hs
+++ b/Annex/Exception.hs
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@ module Annex.Exception (
 	throw,
 ) where
 
-import Control.Exception.Control (handle)
-import Control.Monad.IO.Control (liftIOOp)
+import Control.Exception.Lifted (handle)
+import Control.Monad.Trans.Control (liftBaseOp)
 import Control.Exception hiding (handle, throw)
 
 import Common.Annex
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ import Common.Annex
 {- Runs an Annex action, with setup and cleanup both in the IO monad. -}
 bracketIO :: IO c -> (c -> IO b) -> Annex a -> Annex a
 bracketIO setup cleanup go =
-	liftIOOp (Control.Exception.bracket setup cleanup) (const go)
+	liftBaseOp (Control.Exception.bracket setup cleanup) (const go)
 
 {- Throws an exception in the Annex monad. -}
 throw :: Control.Exception.Exception e => e -> Annex a
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 93586762a9..cda8fed6b3 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 PREFIX=/usr
 IGNORE=-ignore-package monads-fd
-GHCFLAGS=-O2 -Wall $(IGNORE) -fspec-constr-count=5
+GHCFLAGS=-O2 -Wall $(IGNORE) -fspec-constr-count=8
 
 ifdef PROFILE
 GHCFLAGS=-prof -auto-all -rtsopts -caf-all -fforce-recomp $(IGNORE)
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index bbed54765a..f3e830c013 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -8,13 +8,14 @@ git-annex (3.20111212) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
   * Test suite improvements. Current top-level test coverage: 75%
   * Improve deletion of files from rsync special remotes. Closes: #652849
   * Add --include, which is the same as --not --exclude.
-  * Can now be built with older git versions (before 1.7.7); the resulting
-    binary should only be used with old git.
   * Format strings can be specified using the new --format option, to control
     what is output by git annex find.
   * Support git annex find --json
   * Fixed behavior when multiple insteadOf configs are provided for the
     same url base.
+  * Can now be built with older git versions (before 1.7.7); the resulting
+    binary should only be used with old git.
+  * Updated to build with monad-control 0.3.
 
  -- Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>  Mon, 12 Dec 2011 01:57:49 -0400
 
diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control
index 6f59ada5b8..3f88c71eaf 100644
--- a/debian/control
+++ b/debian/control
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ Build-Depends:
 	libghc-utf8-string-dev,
 	libghc-hs3-dev (>= 0.5.6),
 	libghc-testpack-dev [any-i386 any-amd64],
-	libghc-monad-control-dev,
+	libghc-monad-control-dev (>= 0.3),
+	libghc-lifted-base-dev,
 	libghc-json-dev,
 	ikiwiki,
 	perlmagick,
diff --git a/doc/forum/pure_git-annex_only_workflow/comment_11_6b541ed834ef45606f3b98779a25a148._comment b/doc/forum/pure_git-annex_only_workflow/comment_11_6b541ed834ef45606f3b98779a25a148._comment
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..30932e301f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/forum/pure_git-annex_only_workflow/comment_11_6b541ed834ef45606f3b98779a25a148._comment
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+[[!comment format=mdwn
+ username="http://joey.kitenet.net/"
+ nickname="joey"
+ subject="comment 11"
+ date="2011-12-30T21:49:06Z"
+ content="""
+OMG, my first sizable haskell patch!
+
+So trying this out..
+
+In each repo I want to sync, I first `git branch synced/master`
+
+Then in each repo, I found I had to pull from each of its remotes, to get the tracking branches that `defaultSyncRemotes` looks for to know those remotes are syncable. This was the surprising thing for me, I had expected sync to somehow work out which remotes were syncable without my explicit pull. And it was not very obvious that sync was not doing its thing before I did that, since it still does a lot of \"stuff\".
+
+Once set up properly, `git annex sync` fetches from each remote, merges, and then pushes to each remote that has a synced branch. Changes propigate around even when some links are one-directional. Cool!
+
+So it works fine, but I think more needs to be done to make setting up syncing easier. Ideally, all a user would need to do is run \"git annex sync\" and it syncs from all remotes, without needing to manually set up the synced/master branch.
+
+While this would lose the ability to control which remotes are synced, I think that being able to `git annex sync origin` and only sync from/to origin is sufficient, for the centralized use case.
+
+---
+
+Code review:
+
+Why did you make `branch` strict?
+
+There is a bit of a bug in your use of Command.Merge.start. The git-annex branch merge code only runs once per git-annex run, and often this comes before sync fetches from the remotes, leading to a push conflict. I've fixed this in my \"sync\" branch, along with a few other minor things.
+
+`mergeRemote` merges from `refs/remotes/foo/synced/master`. But that will only be up-to-date if `git annex sync` has recently been run there. Is there any reason it couldn't merge from `refs/remotes/foo/master`?
+"""]]
diff --git a/doc/forum/pure_git-annex_only_workflow/comment_12_ca8ca35d6cd4a9f94568536736c12adc._comment b/doc/forum/pure_git-annex_only_workflow/comment_12_ca8ca35d6cd4a9f94568536736c12adc._comment
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5b0259b97a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/forum/pure_git-annex_only_workflow/comment_12_ca8ca35d6cd4a9f94568536736c12adc._comment
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+[[!comment format=mdwn
+ username="http://joey.kitenet.net/"
+ nickname="joey"
+ subject="comment 12"
+ date="2011-12-30T23:45:57Z"
+ content="""
+I have made a new `autosync` branch, where all that the user needs to do is run `git annex sync` and it automatically sets up the synced/master branch. I find this very easy to use, what do you think?
+
+Note that `autosync` is also pretty smart about not running commands like \"git merge\" and \"git push\" when they would not do anything. So you may find `git annex sync` not showing all the steps you'd expect. The only step a sync always performs now is pulling from the remotes.
+"""]]
diff --git a/doc/install.mdwn b/doc/install.mdwn
index cc26ee91d5..ceaa3544fb 100644
--- a/doc/install.mdwn
+++ b/doc/install.mdwn
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ To build and use git-annex, you will need:
   * [SHA](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/SHA)
   * [dataenc](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/dataenc)
   * [monad-control](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/monad-control)
+  * [lifted-base](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/lifted-base)
   * [TestPack](http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/testpack)
   * [QuickCheck 2](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/QuickCheck)
   * [HTTP](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/HTTP)
diff --git a/doc/tips/using_gitolite_with_git-annex/comment_3_807035f38509ccb9f93f1929ecd37417._comment b/doc/tips/using_gitolite_with_git-annex/comment_3_807035f38509ccb9f93f1929ecd37417._comment
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..243764054d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/tips/using_gitolite_with_git-annex/comment_3_807035f38509ccb9f93f1929ecd37417._comment
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+[[!comment format=mdwn
+ username="bremner"
+ ip="156.34.79.193"
+ subject="repo name conventions?"
+ date="2011-12-30T21:41:13Z"
+ content="""
+I'm confused by the fact that the git-annex-shell adc rejects any repo names that don't start with /~/ since none of my repos start that way. It seems work ok if I just delete /\~ from the front of the regex, but I feel like I must be missing something. 
+"""]]
diff --git a/doc/tips/using_gitolite_with_git-annex/comment_4_eb81f824aadc97f098379c5f7e4fba4c._comment b/doc/tips/using_gitolite_with_git-annex/comment_4_eb81f824aadc97f098379c5f7e4fba4c._comment
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c53ce01d94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/tips/using_gitolite_with_git-annex/comment_4_eb81f824aadc97f098379c5f7e4fba4c._comment
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+[[!comment format=mdwn
+ username="http://joey.kitenet.net/"
+ nickname="joey"
+ subject="comment 4"
+ date="2011-12-31T00:29:45Z"
+ content="""
+Well a repo url like `gitolite@localhost:testing` puts it in the gitolite user's /~/testing
+
+This worked when I added the gitolite stuff, anyway.. Let's see if it still does:
+
+<pre>
+joey@gnu:~/tmp>mkdir g
+joey@gnu:~/tmp>cd g
+joey@gnu:~/tmp/g>git init
+Initialized empty Git repository in /home/joey/tmp/g/.git/
+joey@gnu:~/tmp/g>git annex init
+init  ok
+joey@gnu:~/tmp/g>git remote add test 'gitolite@localhost:testing'
+joey@gnu:~/tmp/g>touch foo
+joey@gnu:~/tmp/g>git annex add foo
+add foo (checksum...) ok
+(Recording state in git...)
+joey@gnu:~/tmp/g>git annex copy foo --to test --debug
+git [\"--git-dir=/home/joey/tmp/g/.git\",\"--work-tree=/home/joey/tmp/g\",\"ls-files\",\"--cached\",\"-z\",\"--\",\"foo\"]
+git [\"--git-dir=/home/joey/tmp/g/.git\",\"--work-tree=/home/joey/tmp/g\",\"check-attr\",\"annex.numcopies\",\"-z\",\"--stdin\"]
+git [\"--git-dir=/home/joey/tmp/g/.git\",\"--work-tree=/home/joey/tmp/g\",\"show-ref\",\"--hash\",\"refs/heads/git-annex\"]
+git [\"--git-dir=/home/joey/tmp/g/.git\",\"--work-tree=/home/joey/tmp/g\",\"show-ref\",\"git-annex\"]
+git [\"--git-dir=/home/joey/tmp/g/.git\",\"--work-tree=/home/joey/tmp/g\",\"cat-file\",\"--batch\"]
+Running: ssh [\"-4\",\"gitolite@localhost\",\"git-annex-shell 'configlist' '/~/testing'\"]
+</pre>
+
+Still seems right, the ADC's regexp will match this the git-annex shell command.
+"""]]
diff --git a/doc/todo/Please_add_support_for_monad-control_0.3.x.mdwn b/doc/todo/Please_add_support_for_monad-control_0.3.x.mdwn
index ca68c2c913..f822249916 100644
--- a/doc/todo/Please_add_support_for_monad-control_0.3.x.mdwn
+++ b/doc/todo/Please_add_support_for_monad-control_0.3.x.mdwn
@@ -5,3 +5,5 @@ Git-annex doesn't compile with the latest version of monad-control. Would it be
 > 
 > There is now a branch in git called `new-monad-control` that will build
 > with the new monad-control. --[[Joey]]
+
+>> Now merged to master. [[done]] --[[Joey]]
diff --git a/git-annex.cabal b/git-annex.cabal
index ae6a129b3b..a0980b1f0e 100644
--- a/git-annex.cabal
+++ b/git-annex.cabal
@@ -30,8 +30,8 @@ Executable git-annex
   Main-Is: git-annex.hs
   Build-Depends: MissingH, hslogger, directory, filepath,
    unix, containers, utf8-string, network, mtl, bytestring, old-locale, time,
-   pcre-light, extensible-exceptions, dataenc, SHA, process, hS3, HTTP,
-   base < 5, monad-control < 0.3, json
+   pcre-light, extensible-exceptions, dataenc, SHA, process, hS3, json, HTTP,
+   base < 5, monad-control, transformers-base, lifted-base
 
 Executable git-annex-shell
   Main-Is: git-annex-shell.hs