diff --git a/REQUIRE b/REQUIRE
index 9e74e5b2..2652857b 100644
--- a/REQUIRE
+++ b/REQUIRE
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 julia 0.5
-Compat 0.9.5
+Compat 0.17.0
diff --git a/src/core.jl b/src/core.jl
index d3b796e9..cb4c3d5e 100644
--- a/src/core.jl
+++ b/src/core.jl
@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@
 # other related types and utilities.
 
 # forward-declarations
-@reftypedef abstract User <: Value
-@reftypedef abstract Constant <: User
-@reftypedef abstract GlobalValue <: Constant
-@reftypedef abstract GlobalObject <: GlobalValue
+@reftypedef @compat abstract type User <: Value end
+@reftypedef @compat abstract type Constant <: User end
+@reftypedef @compat abstract type GlobalValue <: Constant end
+@reftypedef @compat abstract type GlobalObject <: GlobalValue end
 @reftypedef proxy=Value kind=LLVMFunctionValueKind immutable Function <: GlobalObject end
 @reftypedef proxy=Value kind=LLVMBasicBlockValueKind immutable BasicBlock <: Value end
 
diff --git a/src/core/attributes.jl b/src/core/attributes.jl
index 26a72221..5074ea92 100644
--- a/src/core/attributes.jl
+++ b/src/core/attributes.jl
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ export Attribute,
        EnumAttribute, StringAttribute,
        kind, value
 
-@reftypedef ref=LLVMAttributeRef abstract Attribute
+@reftypedef ref=LLVMAttributeRef @compat abstract type Attribute end
 
 @reftypedef proxy=Attribute immutable EnumAttribute <: Attribute end
 
diff --git a/src/core/type.jl b/src/core/type.jl
index ec993c1f..6ba1d64a 100644
--- a/src/core/type.jl
+++ b/src/core/type.jl
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ width(inttyp::IntegerType) = API.LLVMGetIntTypeWidth(ref(inttyp))
 
 # NOTE: this type doesn't exist in the LLVM API,
 #       we add it for convenience of typechecking generic values (see execution.jl)
-@reftypedef abstract FloatingPointType <: LLVMType
+@reftypedef @compat abstract type FloatingPointType <: LLVMType end
 
 # NOTE: we don't handle the obscure types here (:X86FP80, :FP128, :PPCFP128),
 #       they would also need special casing as LLVMPPCFP128Type != LLVMPPC_FP128TypeKind
@@ -96,14 +96,14 @@ end
 
 ## composite types
 
-@reftypedef abstract CompositeType <: LLVMType
+@reftypedef @compat abstract type CompositeType <: LLVMType end
 
 
 ## sequential types
 
 export addrspace
 
-@reftypedef abstract SequentialType <: CompositeType
+@reftypedef @compat abstract type SequentialType <: CompositeType end
 
 import Base: length, size, eltype
 
diff --git a/src/pass.jl b/src/pass.jl
index 76883543..f343337f 100644
--- a/src/pass.jl
+++ b/src/pass.jl
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 export Pass
 
-abstract Pass
+@compat abstract type Pass end
 
 
 #
diff --git a/src/passmanager.jl b/src/passmanager.jl
index b1e9ceb5..b901ae5a 100644
--- a/src/passmanager.jl
+++ b/src/passmanager.jl
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 export PassManager,
        add!, dispose
 
-abstract PassManager
+@compat abstract type PassManager end
 
 add!(pm::PassManager, pass::Pass) =
     API.LLVMAddPass(ref(pm), ref(pass))
diff --git a/src/types.jl b/src/types.jl
index 08af7842..865f44c9 100644
--- a/src/types.jl
+++ b/src/types.jl
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ## forward declarations
 # TODO: LLVM.Type once JuliaLang/Julia#18756 is backported
-@reftypedef ref=LLVMTypeRef enum=LLVMTypeKind abstract LLVMType
-@reftypedef ref=LLVMValueRef enum=LLVMValueKind abstract Value
+@reftypedef ref=LLVMTypeRef enum=LLVMTypeKind @compat abstract type LLVMType end
+@reftypedef ref=LLVMValueRef enum=LLVMValueKind @compat abstract type Value end
 @reftypedef ref=LLVMModuleRef immutable Module end
 @reftypedef ref=LLVMTargetDataRef immutable DataLayout end
 
diff --git a/src/util.jl b/src/util.jl
index c8e83369..120a26c7 100644
--- a/src/util.jl
+++ b/src/util.jl
@@ -23,6 +23,10 @@ macro reftypedef(args...)
     typedef = args[end]
 
     # decode type definition
+    if typedef.head == :macrocall
+        # handle `@compat` prefixing 0.6-style type declarations
+        typedef = macroexpand(typedef)
+    end
     if typedef.head == :abstract
         structure = typedef.args[1]
     elseif typedef.head == :type