diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 3549fac..54c6ac8 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,10 +1,8 @@
 language: go
 go:
- - "1.9"
- - "1.10"
- - "1.11"
+  - "1.11"
 install:
  - go get github.com/constabulary/gb/...
- - go get github.com/golang/lint/golint
+ - go get golang.org/x/lint/golint
  - go get github.com/fzipp/gocyclo
 script: ./hooks/pre-commit
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f26a52c..63808a2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 Web service which collects and serves bug reports.
 
-rageshake requires Go version 1.9 or later.
+rageshake requires Go version 1.11 or later.
 
 To run it, do:
 
diff --git a/hooks/pre-commit b/hooks/pre-commit
index 736f559..ec3374e 100755
--- a/hooks/pre-commit
+++ b/hooks/pre-commit
@@ -2,8 +2,12 @@
 
 set -eu
 
-# make the GIT_DIR and GIT_INDEX_FILE absolute, before we change dir
-export GIT_DIR=$(readlink -f `git rev-parse --git-dir`)
+# make git_dir and GIT_INDEX_FILE absolute, before we change dir
+#
+# (don't actually set GIT_DIR, because it messes up `go get`, and several of
+# the go commands run `go get` indirectly)
+#
+git_dir=$(readlink -f `git rev-parse --git-dir`)
 if [ -n "${GIT_INDEX_FILE:+x}" ]; then
     export GIT_INDEX_FILE=$(readlink -f "$GIT_INDEX_FILE")
 fi
@@ -19,7 +23,7 @@ cd "$tmpdir"
 # get a clean copy of the index (ie, what has been `git add`ed), so that we can
 # run the checks against what we are about to commit, rather than what is in
 # the working copy.
-git checkout-index -a
+git --git-dir="${git_dir}" checkout-index -a
 
 # run our checks
 golint src/...
@@ -28,6 +32,9 @@ go tool vet --shadow ./src
 gocyclo -over 12 src/
 gb test
 
+# we're done with go so can set GIT_DIR
+export GIT_DIR="$git_dir"
+
 # if there are no changes from the index, we are done
 git diff --quiet && exit 0