diff --git a/Manual.md b/Manual.md
index 816941e03a..1c68481a8b 100644
--- a/Manual.md
+++ b/Manual.md
@@ -1196,6 +1196,12 @@ The following variables influence how Go packages are built:
 - `go_build_tags`: An optional, space-separated list of build tags to
   pass to Go.
 
+Occasionally it is necessary to perform operations from within the Go
+source tree.  This is usually needed by programs using go-bindata or
+otherwise preping some assets.  If possible do this in pre_build().
+The path to the package's source inside `$GOPATH` is available as
+`$GOSRCPATH`.
+
 <a id="pkgs_haskell"></a>
 ### Haskell packages
 
diff --git a/common/build-style/go.sh b/common/build-style/go.sh
index 71c6e55da0..01a50b167e 100644
--- a/common/build-style/go.sh
+++ b/common/build-style/go.sh
@@ -2,18 +2,17 @@
 # This helper is for templates for Go packages.
 #
 
-do_build() {
-	local path="${GOPATH}/src/${go_import_path}"
+do_configure() {
+        # This isn't really configuration, but its needed by packages
+        # that do unusual things with the build where the expect to be
+        # able to cd into the $GOSRCPATH
 	if [[ "${go_get}" != "yes" ]]; then
-		mkdir -p "$(dirname ${path})"
-		ln -fs $PWD "${path}"
-	fi
-
-	if [ -x /usr/bin/dep ] && [ -f Gopkg.toml ] && [ -f Gopkg.lock ]; then
-		cd "${path}"
-		dep ensure
+		mkdir -p "$(dirname ${GOSRCPATH})"
+		ln -fs $PWD "${GOSRCPATH}"
 	fi
+}
 
+do_build() {
 	go_package=${go_package:-$go_import_path}
 	go get -x -tags "${go_build_tags}" -ldflags "${go_ldflags}" ${go_package}
 }
diff --git a/common/environment/build-style/go.sh b/common/environment/build-style/go.sh
index be8e68b660..b6be9f1e60 100644
--- a/common/environment/build-style/go.sh
+++ b/common/environment/build-style/go.sh
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ case "$XBPS_TARGET_MACHINE" in
 esac
 
 export GOPATH="${wrksrc}/_build-${pkgname}-xbps"
+GOSRCPATH="${GOPATH}/src/${go_import_path}"
 export CGO_CFLAGS="$CFLAGS"
 export CGO_CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS"
 export CGO_CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS"