diff --git a/git-annex.cabal b/git-annex.cabal
index 4abbc7b686..4c34eef8b2 100644
--- a/git-annex.cabal
+++ b/git-annex.cabal
@@ -311,7 +311,7 @@ Executable git-annex
   Build-Depends:
    base (>= 4.11.1.0 && < 5.0),
    network-uri (>= 2.6),
-   optparse-applicative (>= 0.18.1),
+   optparse-applicative (>= 0.14.2),
    containers (>= 0.5.8),
    exceptions (>= 0.6),
    stm (>= 2.3),