diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 0fa699eeae..b26a0b0e85 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ git-annex (6.20180808) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   * S3: Support buckets with versioning enabled. When a remote
     is configured with exporttree=yes versioning=yes, git-annex can
     download past versions of exported files from it.
+  * git-annex.cabal: Fix build without assistant, and some other refinements.
+    Thanks fftehnik.
 
  -- Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>  Wed, 08 Aug 2018 11:24:08 -0400
 
diff --git a/doc/bugs/can__39__t_build_without_assistant/comment_1_41b96b4e7f01b79a2e942b8098faa534._comment b/doc/bugs/can__39__t_build_without_assistant/comment_1_41b96b4e7f01b79a2e942b8098faa534._comment
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e21ae48a4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/bugs/can__39__t_build_without_assistant/comment_1_41b96b4e7f01b79a2e942b8098faa534._comment
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+[[!comment format=mdwn
+ username="joey"
+ subject="""comment 1"""
+ date="2018-09-05T15:23:49Z"
+ content="""
+Thanks for the patch, but while it is moving in a good direction,
+it gets some things wrong too. Problems I noticed:
+
+* It removes the "&& ! os(solaris) && ! os(gnu)" from the assistant flag
+  test, which are important to support building git-annex on hurd and
+  solaris.
+* Utility.Android is used inside *linux* builds to detect android at
+  runtime. So moving it under the flag(Android) test is wrong and will
+  break all linux builds AFAICS.
+* Build.DesktopFile is not linked into the assistant, like Build.Configure
+  it's only listed to get the source file into the cabal tarball. Best to
+  keep it with the other such files.
+
+I've applied the patch but reverted the above changes.
+"""]]
diff --git a/git-annex.cabal b/git-annex.cabal
index 07cc018695..448de5cc1a 100644
--- a/git-annex.cabal
+++ b/git-annex.cabal
@@ -420,7 +420,7 @@ Executable git-annex
     Other-Modules:
       Remote.Helper.Http
 
-  if flag(Assistant)
+  if flag(Assistant) && ! os(solaris) && ! os(gnu)
     Build-Depends: mountpoints
     CPP-Options: -DWITH_ASSISTANT
     Other-Modules:
@@ -496,7 +496,6 @@ Executable git-annex
       Assistant.Types.UrlRenderer
       Assistant.Unused
       Assistant.Upgrade
-      Build.DesktopFile
       Command.Assistant
       Command.Watch
       Utility.Mounts
@@ -533,8 +532,6 @@ Executable git-annex
   if flag(Android)
     Build-Depends: data-endian
     CPP-Options: -D__ANDROID__ -DANDROID_SPLICES -D__NO_TH__
-    Other-Modules:
-      Utility.Android
   else
     Build-Depends: disk-free-space
 
@@ -687,6 +684,7 @@ Executable git-annex
     Backend.WORM
     Build.BundledPrograms
     Build.Configure
+    Build.DesktopFile
     Build.Mans
     Build.TestConfig
     Build.Version
@@ -1006,6 +1004,7 @@ Executable git-annex
     Upgrade.V4
     Upgrade.V5
     Utility.Aeson
+    Utility.Android
     Utility.Applicative
     Utility.AuthToken
     Utility.Base64