diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 26fc33259e9795344bb0477e1fcb97c94e287c05..0d0938ebbe404dc1cefd87833031017d3d9c6564 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -27,7 +27,9 @@ The client is open source software released under the simplified BSD License.
 The command line tool is intended for testing xx network functionality and not
 for regular user use. 
 
-Compilation (assuming golang 1.13 or newer):
+These instructions assume that you have [Go 1.17.X installed](https://go.dev/doc/install), and GCC installed for Cgo (such as `build-essential` on Debian or Ubuntu).
+
+Compilation steps:
 
 ```
 git clone https://gitlab.com/elixxir/client.git client