diff --git a/doc/bugs/Webapp_won__180__t_start_on_MacOS/comment_4_1e944c517796ca29f8870fcf76c9a0d4._comment b/doc/bugs/Webapp_won__180__t_start_on_MacOS/comment_4_1e944c517796ca29f8870fcf76c9a0d4._comment
index 3163e7e8bf..c6b59c7cbf 100644
--- a/doc/bugs/Webapp_won__180__t_start_on_MacOS/comment_4_1e944c517796ca29f8870fcf76c9a0d4._comment
+++ b/doc/bugs/Webapp_won__180__t_start_on_MacOS/comment_4_1e944c517796ca29f8870fcf76c9a0d4._comment
@@ -4,14 +4,17 @@
  date="2022-08-29T17:56:55Z"
  content="""
 git-annex can be built without support for `git-annex webapp`,
-and it seems that your updated build was configured that way.
+and it seems that your updated build ended up with that turned off.
 
-This might be a mistake in the homebrew git-annex build,
-or they might have disabled building with the webapp for some reason.
+It would be good to contact the homebrew developers and file a bug report
+about this. From what I can see, their formula for git-annex does not
+explicitly disable the webapp, but some problem may have caused it to get
+disabled.
 
-But, I suspect what caused this is a problem with a new version of cabal.
+I suspect what caused this is a problem with a new version of cabal.
 When I build git-annex (on linux) with cabal 3.4.1.0 and ghc 9.0.2,
 it builds without the webapp. This is even though the webapp is supposed
 to be build by default. Even `cabal configure -fWebapp`
-does not cause it to build the webapp.
+does not cause it to build the webapp. Made a bug for that at
+[[cabal_builds_without_assistant]].
 """]]
diff --git a/doc/bugs/cabal_builds_without_assistant.mdwn b/doc/bugs/cabal_builds_without_assistant.mdwn
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7c19d4bb34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/bugs/cabal_builds_without_assistant.mdwn
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+With cabal 3.4.1.0, `cabal build` does not build the assistant, even though
+all dependencies are there. Even after `cabal configure -fAssistant`, it
+silently skips installing the deps for the assistant and does not enable the
+CPP for the flag. Same for webapp.
+
+Earlier versions of cabal did not behave this way. Perhaps it is a cabal
+bug?
+
+I tried moving the build-depends out of the `if flag(Assistant)` section
+to the main build-depends section. It was able to install all the build
+depends, so it's not some dependency issue making it decide to turn off
+that build flag. --[[Joey]]