diff --git a/bindings/go/fdb-go-install.sh b/bindings/go/fdb-go-install.sh
index 01e3fc5b9f..26718fb9b2 100755
--- a/bindings/go/fdb-go-install.sh
+++ b/bindings/go/fdb-go-install.sh
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 #
 
 DESTDIR="${DESTDIR:-}"
-FDBVER="${FDBVER:-5.1.0}"
+FDBVER="${FDBVER:-}"
 REMOTE="${REMOTE:-github.com}"
 FDBREPO="${FDBREPO:-apple/foundationdb}"
 
@@ -68,10 +68,11 @@ function printUsage() {
     echo "     help            Print this help message and then quit"
     echo
     echo "Command Line Options:"
-    echo "     --fdbver <version>    FoundationDB semantic version (default is ${FDBVER})"
+    echo "     --fdbver <version>    FoundationDB semantic version to install or download (required if FDBVER environment variable is not set)"
     echo "     -d/--dest-dir <dest>  Local location for the repo (default is to place in go path)"
     echo
     echo "Environment Variable Options:"
+    echo "     FDBVER          Default FoundationDB semantic version to use if --fdbver flag is not set"
     echo "     REMOTE          Remote repository to download from (currently ${REMOTE})"
     echo "     FDBREPO         Repository of FoundationDB library to download (currently ${FDBREPO})"
     echo "     FDBLIBDIR       Directory within which should be the FoundationDB c library (currently ${FDBLIBDIR})"
@@ -126,6 +127,12 @@ function parseArgs() {
         shift
     done
 
+    if [[ -z "${FDBVER}" ]] ; then
+        echo "No FoundationDB version specified!"
+        echo "Please provide a value to the --fdbver or set the FDBVER environment variable."
+        let status="${status} + 1"
+    fi
+
     return "${status}"
 }