diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index b1c6ffc8f1..7a9d985ec5 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
+# We use native code; sue me.
+
 language: go
 
+# Detective work is required to ascertain why this is required BOTH in the
+# before_script directive and in the shell library.
 before_script:
-- gvm install go1.0.3 || true
-- gvm use go1.0.3 || true
+ - gvm install go1.1 || true
+ - gvm use go1.1 || true
 
 script:
- - make
+ - bash -l ./tests-for-die-in-a-fire-travis.sh
diff --git a/Makefile.INCLUDE b/Makefile.INCLUDE
index cb83b97a03..58062e8b00 100644
--- a/Makefile.INCLUDE
+++ b/Makefile.INCLUDE
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ else
 export THIRD_PARTY_BUILD_OUTPUT :=
 endif
 
-GO_VERSION := 1.0.3
+GO_VERSION := 1.1
 LEVELDB_VERSION := 1.9.0
 PROTOCOL_BUFFERS_VERSION := 2.5.0
 SNAPPY_VERSION := 1.1.0
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 557726c866..6537ca3a58 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ action if some condition is observed to be true.
 If you read below in the _Getting Started_ section, the build infrastructure
 will take care of the following things for you in most cases:
 
-  1. Go 1.0.3.
+  1. Go 1.1.
   2. GVM: [https://github.com/moovweb/gvm](https://github.com/moovweb/gvm) is highly recommended as well.
   3. LevelDB: [https://code.google.com/p/leveldb/](https://code.google.com/p/leveldb/).
   4. Protocol Buffers Compiler: [http://code.google.com/p/protobuf/](http://code.google.com/p/protobuf/).
@@ -39,8 +39,8 @@ For basic help how to get started:
 ### Working with GVM
 Starting out, the following workflow is advised:
 
-    $ gvm install go1.0.3
-    $ gvm use go1.0.3
+    $ gvm install go1.1
+    $ gvm use go1.1
     $ gvm pkgset create prometheus
     $ gvm pkgset use prometheus
 
diff --git a/build/Makefile b/build/Makefile
index 3aa007b4dc..9f9df0fccf 100644
--- a/build/Makefile
+++ b/build/Makefile
@@ -70,7 +70,6 @@ goskiplist-stamp: go-stamp
 
 gvm-stamp: bison-stamp cc-stamp mercurial-stamp
 	[ -x "$$(which gvm)" ] || { echo "gvm not found; install manually from https://github.com/moovweb/gvm." ; false ; }
-	-gvm install go$(GO_VERSION)
 	#
 	# ********** **********
 	# gvm installed go$(GO_VERSION) if it did not exist already.
diff --git a/model/fingerprinting.go b/model/fingerprinting.go
index c18e5b8755..123e1292aa 100644
--- a/model/fingerprinting.go
+++ b/model/fingerprinting.go
@@ -105,9 +105,9 @@ func NewFingerprintFromMetric(metric Metric) (f Fingerprint) {
 
 	return fingerprint{
 		firstCharacterOfFirstLabelName: firstCharacterOfFirstLabelName,
-		hash:                           binary.LittleEndian.Uint64(summer.Sum(nil)),
-		labelMatterLength:              uint(labelMatterLength % 10),
-		lastCharacterOfLastLabelValue:  lastCharacterOfLastLabelValue,
+		hash:                          binary.LittleEndian.Uint64(summer.Sum(nil)),
+		labelMatterLength:             uint(labelMatterLength % 10),
+		lastCharacterOfLastLabelValue: lastCharacterOfLastLabelValue,
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/retrieval/format/discriminator.go b/retrieval/format/discriminator.go
index eabafc0af0..5c7f8f8cff 100644
--- a/retrieval/format/discriminator.go
+++ b/retrieval/format/discriminator.go
@@ -71,6 +71,4 @@ func (r *registry) ProcessorForRequestHeader(header http.Header) (processor Proc
 		err = fmt.Errorf("Unrecognized API version %s", prometheusApiVersion)
 		return
 	}
-
-	return
 }
diff --git a/rules/load.go b/rules/load.go
index 690071c750..7bd988e2f0 100644
--- a/rules/load.go
+++ b/rules/load.go
@@ -92,7 +92,6 @@ func LoadFromReader(rulesReader io.Reader, singleExpr bool) (interface{}, error)
 	} else {
 		return lexer.parsedRules, nil
 	}
-	panic("")
 }
 
 func LoadRulesFromReader(rulesReader io.Reader) ([]Rule, error) {
diff --git a/rules/testdata.go b/rules/testdata.go
index 6a4f4780b5..c1c43719bc 100644
--- a/rules/testdata.go
+++ b/rules/testdata.go
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ var testMatrix = ast.Matrix{
 	{
 		Metric: model.Metric{
 			model.MetricNameLabel: "x",
-			"y":                   "testvalue",
+			"y": "testvalue",
 		},
 		Values: getTestValueStream(0, 100, 10),
 	},
diff --git a/storage/metric/tiered.go b/storage/metric/tiered.go
index 6403442210..55b96591f8 100644
--- a/storage/metric/tiered.go
+++ b/storage/metric/tiered.go
@@ -49,8 +49,6 @@ func (c chunk) TruncateBefore(t time.Time) chunk {
 	default:
 		return c[index-1:]
 	}
-
-	panic("unreachable")
 }
 
 // TieredStorage both persists samples and generates materialized views for
diff --git a/tests-for-die-in-a-fire-travis.sh b/tests-for-die-in-a-fire-travis.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..a111001fdf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests-for-die-in-a-fire-travis.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Copyright 2013 Prometheus Team
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+# A helper until https://github.com/travis-ci/travis-cookbooks/issues/184 is
+# remedied.
+
+. ./tests-for-die-in-a-fire-travis.shlib
+
+make -f Makefile || exit 1
diff --git a/tests-for-die-in-a-fire-travis.shlib b/tests-for-die-in-a-fire-travis.shlib
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bdad544900
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests-for-die-in-a-fire-travis.shlib
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Copyright 2013 Prometheus Team
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+# A helper until https://github.com/travis-ci/travis-cookbooks/issues/184 is
+# remedied.
+
+gvm install go1.1
+gvm use go1.1
+
+go version
+go env