diff --git a/backend/drive/drive.go b/backend/drive/drive.go
index 5b04ad7fa..46cfd3625 100644
--- a/backend/drive/drive.go
+++ b/backend/drive/drive.go
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 // Package drive interfaces with the Google Drive object storage system
+
+// +build go1.9
+
 package drive
 
 // FIXME need to deal with some corner cases
diff --git a/backend/drive/drive_internal_test.go b/backend/drive/drive_internal_test.go
index f172a1e21..e894f9a3f 100644
--- a/backend/drive/drive_internal_test.go
+++ b/backend/drive/drive_internal_test.go
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+// +build go1.9
+
 package drive
 
 import (
diff --git a/backend/drive/drive_test.go b/backend/drive/drive_test.go
index e8cbb31f3..1c13c3afc 100644
--- a/backend/drive/drive_test.go
+++ b/backend/drive/drive_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 // Test Drive filesystem interface
+
+// +build go1.9
+
 package drive
 
 import (
diff --git a/backend/drive/drive_unsupported.go b/backend/drive/drive_unsupported.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cbddea72a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/drive/drive_unsupported.go
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+// Build for unsupported platforms to stop go complaining
+// about "no buildable Go source files "
+
+// +build !go1.9
+
+package drive
diff --git a/backend/drive/upload.go b/backend/drive/upload.go
index f228c21cf..a6fb65aaa 100644
--- a/backend/drive/upload.go
+++ b/backend/drive/upload.go
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
 //
 // This contains code adapted from google.golang.org/api (C) the GO AUTHORS
 
+// +build go1.9
+
 package drive
 
 import (
diff --git a/backend/googlecloudstorage/googlecloudstorage.go b/backend/googlecloudstorage/googlecloudstorage.go
index 2f47d9156..815a4887e 100644
--- a/backend/googlecloudstorage/googlecloudstorage.go
+++ b/backend/googlecloudstorage/googlecloudstorage.go
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 // Package googlecloudstorage provides an interface to Google Cloud Storage
+
+// +build go1.9
+
 package googlecloudstorage
 
 /*
diff --git a/backend/googlecloudstorage/googlecloudstorage_test.go b/backend/googlecloudstorage/googlecloudstorage_test.go
index 5541e110c..8b483f52f 100644
--- a/backend/googlecloudstorage/googlecloudstorage_test.go
+++ b/backend/googlecloudstorage/googlecloudstorage_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 // Test GoogleCloudStorage filesystem interface
+
+// +build go1.9
+
 package googlecloudstorage_test
 
 import (
diff --git a/backend/googlecloudstorage/googlecloudstorage_unsupported.go b/backend/googlecloudstorage/googlecloudstorage_unsupported.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0a75c9de8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/googlecloudstorage/googlecloudstorage_unsupported.go
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+// Build for unsupported platforms to stop go complaining
+// about "no buildable Go source files "
+
+// +build !go1.9
+
+package googlecloudstorage