diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openfst/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openfst/package.py
index d8f6b0147569beb2585611fe85d83f0fe6d637f9..8399c6fcb9dc17b03e8586625fd68e9a6d9ac987 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openfst/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openfst/package.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ class Openfst(AutotoolsPackage):
     url      = "http://www.openfst.org/twiki/pub/FST/FstDownload/openfst-1.6.1.tar.gz"
     list_url = "http://www.openfst.org/twiki/bin/view/FST/FstDownload"
 
+    version('1.7.9',  sha256='9319aeb31d1e2950ae25449884e255cc2bc9dfaf987f601590763e61a10fbdde')
     version('1.6.7',  sha256='e21a486d827cde6a592c8e91721e4540ad01a5ae35a60423cf17be4d716017f7')
     version('1.6.1',  sha256='5245af8ebccb96208eec2dfe3b3a81143d3565a4d41220bff299287fb3333f7d')
     version('1.6.0',  sha256='c03467951631af3f74a6f33ffd50f04285bc4562f79127afd95785120379d293')
@@ -30,7 +31,7 @@ class Openfst(AutotoolsPackage):
     version('1.4.0',  sha256='eb557f37560438f03912b4e43335c4c9e72aa486d4f2046127131185eb88f17a')
 
     conflicts('%intel@16:')
-    conflicts('%gcc@6:')
+    conflicts('%gcc@6:', when='@:1.6.7')
 
     variant('far', default=False, description="Enable FAR support")