diff --git a/bin/maketarball.sh b/bin/maketarball.sh
index d53332145..2485e5c53 100755
--- a/bin/maketarball.sh
+++ b/bin/maketarball.sh
@@ -8,19 +8,17 @@ IFS=$'\n\t'
 # readlink doesn't work on macos
 OUTPUT="${1:-go-ipfs-source.tar.gz}"
 if ! [[ "$OUTPUT" = /* ]]; then
-    OUTPUT="$PWD/$OUTPUT"
+  OUTPUT="$PWD/$OUTPUT"
 fi
 
 TMPDIR="$(mktemp -d)"
-NEWIPFS="$TMPDIR/src/github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs"
-mkdir -p "$NEWIPFS"
-cp -r . "$NEWIPFS"
-( cd "$NEWIPFS" &&
-      echo $PWD &&
-      GOPATH="$TMPDIR" gx install --local &&
-      (git rev-parse --short HEAD || true) > .tarball &&
-      chmod -R u=rwX,go=rX "$NEWIPFS" # normalize permissions
-      tar -czf "$OUTPUT" --exclude="./.git" .
-)
+cp -r . "$TMPDIR"
+( cd "$TMPDIR" &&
+  echo $PWD &&
+  go mod vendor &&
+  (git describe --always --match=NeVeRmAtCh --dirty 2>/dev/null || true) > .tarball &&
+  chmod -R u=rwX,go=rX "$TMPDIR" # normalize permissions
+  tar -czf "$OUTPUT" --exclude="./.git" .
+  )
 
 rm -rf "$TMPDIR"
diff --git a/mk/golang.mk b/mk/golang.mk
index db2e63cf9..bbdebbc2e 100644
--- a/mk/golang.mk
+++ b/mk/golang.mk
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ unexport GOFLAGS
 GOFLAGS ?=
 GOTFLAGS ?=
 
+ifeq ($(tarball-is),1)
+	GOFLAGS += -mod=vendor
+endif
+
 # match Go's default GOPATH behaviour
 export GOPATH ?= $(shell $(GOCC) env GOPATH)