diff --git a/make.go b/make.go
index 87ae1653f..bec6aac24 100644
--- a/make.go
+++ b/make.go
@@ -453,9 +453,10 @@ func verifyCamlistoreRoot(dir string) {
 }
 
 func verifyGoVersion() {
+	const neededMinor = '3'
 	_, err := exec.LookPath("go")
 	if err != nil {
-		log.Fatalf("Go doesn't appeared to be installed ('go' isn't in your PATH). Install Go 1.1 or newer.")
+		log.Fatalf("Go doesn't appeared to be installed ('go' isn't in your PATH). Install Go 1.%c or newer.", neededMinor)
 	}
 	out, err := exec.Command("go", "version").Output()
 	if err != nil {
@@ -466,10 +467,18 @@ func verifyGoVersion() {
 		log.Fatalf("Unexpected output while checking 'go version': %q", out)
 	}
 	version := fields[2]
-	switch version {
-	case "go1", "go1.0.1", "go1.0.2", "go1.0.3":
-		log.Fatalf("Your version of Go (%s) is too old. Camlistore requires Go 1.1 or later.", version)
+	if version == "devel" {
+		return
 	}
+	// this check is still needed for the "go1" case.
+	if len(version) < len("go1.") {
+		log.Fatalf("Your version of Go (%s) is too old. Camlistore requires Go 1.%c or later.", version, neededMinor)
+	}
+	minorChar := strings.TrimPrefix(version, "go1.")[0]
+	if minorChar >= neededMinor && minorChar <= '9' {
+		return
+	}
+	log.Fatalf("Your version of Go (%s) is too old. Camlistore requires Go 1.%c or later.", version, neededMinor)
 }
 
 type mirrorOpts struct {
diff --git a/website/content/docs/release/0.8 b/website/content/docs/release/0.8
index c475f3a52..eceb78849 100644
--- a/website/content/docs/release/0.8
+++ b/website/content/docs/release/0.8
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ is almost the same? Okay, maybe not.</p>
 Or browse at Github: <a href="https://github.com/bradfitz/camlistore/tree/0.8">github.com/bradfitz/camlistore/tree/0.8</a></div>
 </center>
 
+<p>Please note that <a href="https://golang.org/dl/">Go 1.3 or newer</a> is now required for this release.</p>
+
 <h2>Release stats</h2>
 <!--
 $ PREV=0.7; echo "$(git shortlog -e -s $PREV..HEAD | sed -e 's/^.*<//;s/>.*$//' | uniq | wc -l) total commiters over $(git log --format=oneline $PREV..HEAD | wc -l) commits since $PREV (), including $(i=0; git shortlog -s $PREV..HEAD | cut -c8- | fgrep ' ' | while read nm; do i=$(($i + 1)); if [ $i -ge 2 ]; then echo -n ', '; fi; echo -n "$nm"; done)."
diff --git a/website/content/download b/website/content/download
index 670df8fa2..e8be3cb1d 100644
--- a/website/content/download
+++ b/website/content/download
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 <p>Or, the canonical git repo is:</p>
 <pre>$ git clone https://camlistore.googlesource.com/camlistore</pre>
 
-<p><a href="http://golang.org/doc/install">Download and install Go</a> if you don't have that installed already. Camlistore requires Go 1.1 but we recommend 1.3.</p>
+<p><a href="http://golang.org/doc/install">Download and install Go</a> if you don't have that installed already. Camlistore requires <a href="https://golang.org/dl/">Go 1.3 or newer</a>.</p>
 
 <p>Build Camlistore by running this command in the folder you downloaded or checked out:</p>