diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 940736db60..a096c9b95d 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -35,7 +35,10 @@ MODULES =					\
 
 GOBJECTS = $(MODULES:%.scm=%.go)
 
-nobase_dist_guilemodule_DATA = $(MODULES)
+nobase_dist_guilemodule_DATA =			\
+  $(MODULES)					\
+  distro/guile-1.8-cpp-4.5.patch
+
 nobase_nodist_guilemodule_DATA = $(GOBJECTS)
 
 TESTS =						\
@@ -51,6 +54,7 @@ TESTS_ENVIRONMENT =							\
   $(GUILE) --no-auto-compile -L "$(top_srcdir)"
 
 EXTRA_DIST = build-aux/config.rpath $(TESTS)
+
 CLEANFILES = $(GOBJECTS) *.log
 
 .scm.go:
diff --git a/distro/base.scm b/distro/base.scm
index 1135d7551e..b11a7f2116 100644
--- a/distro/base.scm
+++ b/distro/base.scm
@@ -107,3 +107,59 @@ code.")
    (long-description "Yeah...")
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/hello/")
    (license "GPLv3+")))
+
+(define-public guile-1.8
+  (package
+   (name "guile")
+   (version "1.8.8")
+   (source (origin
+            (method http-fetch)
+            (uri (string-append "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/guile/guile-" version
+                                ".tar.gz"))
+            (sha256
+             (base32
+              "0l200a0v7h8bh0cwz6v7hc13ds39cgqsmfrks55b1rbj5vniyiy3"))))
+   (build-system gnu-build-system)
+   (arguments '(#:modules ((guix build gnu-build-system)
+                           (guix build utils)
+                           (ice-9 regex))
+                #:configure-flags '("--disable-error-on-warning")
+                #:patches (list (assoc-ref %build-inputs "patch/snarf"))
+
+                ;; Insert a phase before `configure' to patch things up.
+                #:phases (alist-cons-before
+                           'configure
+                           'patch-loader-search-path
+                           (lambda* (#:key outputs #:allow-other-keys)
+                             ;; Add a call to `lt_dladdsearchdir' so that
+                             ;; `libguile-readline.so' & co. are in the
+                             ;; loader's search path.
+                             (substitute "libguile/dynl.c"
+                                         "lt_dlinit.*$"
+                                         (lambda (m p)
+                                           (format p
+                                                   "  ~a~%  //lt_dladdsearchdir(\"~a/lib\");~%"
+                                                   (match:substring m 0)
+                                                   (assoc-ref outputs "out")))))
+                           %standard-phases)))
+   (inputs `(("patch/snarf"
+              ,(search-path %load-path "distro/guile-1.8-cpp-4.5.patch"))
+             ("gawk" ,gawk)
+             ("readline" ,(nixpkgs-derivation "readline"))
+             ("gmp" ,(nixpkgs-derivation "gmp"))
+             ("libtool" ,(nixpkgs-derivation "libtool"))))
+
+   ;; When cross-compiling, a native version of Guile itself is needed.
+   (self-native-input? #t)
+
+   (description "GNU Guile 1.8, an embeddable Scheme interpreter")
+   (long-description
+"GNU Guile 1.8 is an interpreter for the Scheme programming language,
+packaged as a library that can be embedded into programs to make them
+extensible.  It supports many SRFIs.")
+   (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/")
+   (license "LGPLv2+")))
+
+;;; Local Variables:
+;;; eval: (put 'lambda* 'scheme-indent-function 1)
+;;; End:
diff --git a/distro/guile-1.8-cpp-4.5.patch b/distro/guile-1.8-cpp-4.5.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..638d071baf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/distro/guile-1.8-cpp-4.5.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+Fix doc snarfing with GCC 4.5+.
+From <http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guile.git/commit/?h=branch_release-1-8&id=aac41d28358cea594bb30f6e547afb82bb6004a6>.
+
+diff --git a/scripts/snarf-check-and-output-texi b/scripts/snarf-check-and-output-texi
+index ea33e17..8cd42e8 100755
+--- a/scripts/snarf-check-and-output-texi
++++ b/scripts/snarf-check-and-output-texi
+@@ -267,6 +267,17 @@ exec ${GUILE-guile} -l $0 -c "(apply $main (cdr (command-line)))" "$@"
+       (set! *file* file)
+       (set! *line* line))
+ 
++     ;; newer gccs like to throw around more location markers into the
++     ;; preprocessed source; these (hash . hash) bits are what they translate to
++     ;; in snarfy terms.
++     (('location ('string . file) ('int . line) ('hash . 'hash))
++      (set! *file* file)
++      (set! *line* line))
++
++     (('location ('hash . 'hash) ('string . file) ('int . line) ('hash . 'hash))
++      (set! *file* file)
++      (set! *line* line))
++
+      (('arglist rest ...)
+       (set! *args* (do-arglist rest)))