diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 8963f4d5..3792b232 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -7,10 +7,10 @@ rqlite can be compiled and executed on Linux, OSX, and Microsoft Windows.
 If you open a pull request, please ensure the commit history is clean. Squash the commits into logical blocks, perhaps a single commit if that makes sense. What you want to avoid is commits such as "WIP" and "fix test" in the history. This is so we keep history on master clean and straightforward.
 
 ## Third-party libraries
-Please avoid using libaries other than those available in the standard library, unless absolutely necessary. This requirement is relaxed somewhat for software other than rqlite node software itself. To understand why this requirement is in place, check out this [post](https://blog.gopheracademy.com/advent-2014/case-against-3pl/). 
+Please avoid using libaries other than those available in the standard library, unless absolutely necessary. This requirement is relaxed somewhat for software other than rqlite node software itself. To understand why this requirement is in place, check out this [post](https://blog.gopheracademy.com/advent-2014/case-against-3pl/)i.
 
 ## Building rqlite
-*Building rqlite requires Go 1.7 or later. [gvm](https://github.com/moovweb/gvm) is a great tool for installing and managing your versions of Go.*
+*Building rqlite requires Go 1.8 or later. [gvm](https://github.com/moovweb/gvm) is a great tool for installing and managing your versions of Go.*
 
 Download, build, and run rqlite like so (tested on 64-bit Kubuntu 14.04 and OSX):
 
diff --git a/circle.yml b/circle.yml
index db8de98e..60020f87 100644
--- a/circle.yml
+++ b/circle.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 machine:
     environment:
-      GODIST: "go1.7.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz"
+      GODIST: "go1.8.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz"
 
     post:
       - mkdir -p download
diff --git a/vagrant_setup.sh b/vagrant_setup.sh
index 673c8b72..1f148fd8 100755
--- a/vagrant_setup.sh
+++ b/vagrant_setup.sh
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ apt-get install -y curl git bison make mercurial
 # Go
 bash < <(curl -s -S -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/moovweb/gvm/master/binscripts/gvm-installer)
 source ~/.gvm/scripts/gvm
-gvm install go1.7.1
-gvm use go1.7.1
+gvm install go1.8.1
+gvm use go1.8.1
 
 # rqlite
 mkdir -p rqlite