Cannot compile: "function nil.new/0 is undefined"

[bortzmeyer]

% mix deps.get 
Resolving Hex dependencies...
Dependency resolution completed:
New:
  configparser 4.0.0
All dependencies are up to date

% mix deps.compile
==> configparser
Compiling 2 files (.ex)

== Compilation error in file lib/ConfigParser/ParseState.ex ==
** (UndefinedFunctionError) function nil.new/0 is undefined. If you are using the dot syntax, such as map.field or module.function(), make sure the left side of the dot is an atom or a map
    nil.new()
    lib/ConfigParser/ParseState.ex:22: (module)
    (stdlib 3.17) erl_eval.erl:685: :erl_eval.do_apply/6
could not compile dependency :configparser, "mix compile" failed. You can recompile this dependency with "mix deps.compile configparser", update it with "mix deps.update configparser" or clean it with "mix deps.clean configparser"

% elixir --version
Erlang/OTP 24 [erts-12.2] [source] [64-bit] [smp:12:12] [ds:12:12:10] [async-threads:1] [jit]

Elixir 1.12.2 (compiled with Erlang/OTP 24)

(Same thing with Elixir 1.9.)