diff --git a/protos/Makefile b/protos/Makefile
index dc6f723ffdc..51b3d6a915f 100644
--- a/protos/Makefile
+++ b/protos/Makefile
@@ -14,10 +14,14 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 #
 
-PROTO_PATH := ${GOPATH}/src:.
-PROTO_PATH := ${PROTO_PATH}:${GOPATH}/src/github.com/dgraph-io/dgraph
-PROTO_PATH := ${PROTO_PATH}:${GOPATH}/src/github.com/dgraph-io/dgo/protos
-PROTO_PATH := ${PROTO_PATH}:${GOPATH}/src/github.com/dgraph-io/badger/pb
+DGO_PATH    := github.com/dgraph-io/dgo/v2
+BADGER_PATH := github.com/dgraph-io/badger/v2
+GOGO_PATH   := github.com/gogo/protobuf
+
+TMPDIR     := $(shell mktemp -d)
+PROTO_PATH := ${TMPDIR}/src:.
+PROTO_PATH := ${PROTO_PATH}:${TMPDIR}/src/${DGO_PATH}/protos
+PROTO_PATH := ${PROTO_PATH}:${TMPDIR}/src/${BADGER_PATH}/pb
 
 .PHONY: help
 help:
@@ -30,21 +34,25 @@ clean:
 .PHONY: check
 check:
 	@./depcheck.sh && \
-		(echo "Upgrading proto libraries before regenerating." ; \
-		go get -u github.com/golang/protobuf/protoc-gen-go ; \
-		go get -u github.com/gogo/protobuf/protoc-gen-gofast)
+		(echo "Installing proto libraries to versions in go.mod." ; \
+		go install github.com/golang/protobuf/protoc-gen-go ; \
+		go install github.com/gogo/protobuf/protoc-gen-gofast)
+
+.PHONY: copy-protos
+copy-protos:
+	@mkdir -p ${TMPDIR}/src/${DGO_PATH}/protos
+	@mkdir -p ${TMPDIR}/src/${BADGER_PATH}/pb
+	@mkdir -p ${TMPDIR}/src/${GOGO_PATH}/gogoproto
+	@cp $(shell go list -m -f "{{.Dir}}" ${BADGER_PATH})/pb/pb.proto ${TMPDIR}/src/${BADGER_PATH}/pb/pb.proto
+	@cp $(shell go list -m -f "{{.Dir}}" ${DGO_PATH})/protos/api.proto ${TMPDIR}/src/${DGO_PATH}/protos/api.proto
+	@cp $(shell go list -m -f "{{.Dir}}" ${GOGO_PATH})/gogoproto/gogo.proto ${TMPDIR}/src/${GOGO_PATH}/gogoproto/gogo.proto
 
 .PHONY: regenerate
-regenerate: check clean
-#	These sed replacements are necessary to use Badger v2 via Go modules.
-#	The protoc tool doesn't recognize Go module import paths, so we need to
-#	specify the filesystem-level import path (without "v2") to generate the
-#	protos and then set "v2" in the generated code (pb/pb.pb.go).
-	@sed -i'' -e 's;github.com/dgraph-io/badger/v2/pb/pb.proto;github.com/dgraph-io/badger/pb/pb.proto;' pb.proto
+regenerate: copy-protos check clean
 	@protoc \
+		--proto_path=/usr/local/include \
 		--proto_path=${PROTO_PATH} \
-		--gofast_out=plugins=grpc,Mapi.proto=github.com/dgraph-io/dgo/v2/protos/api:pb \
+		--gofast_out=plugins=grpc,Mapi.proto=${DGO_PATH}/protos/api:pb \
 		pb.proto
-	@sed -i'' -e 's;github.com/dgraph-io/badger/pb/pb.proto;github.com/dgraph-io/badger/v2/pb/pb.proto;' pb.proto
-	@sed -i'' -e 's;github.com/dgraph-io/badger/pb;github.com/dgraph-io/badger/v2/pb;' pb/pb.pb.go
+	@rm -rf ${TMPDIR}
 	@echo Done.
diff --git a/protos/depcheck.sh b/protos/depcheck.sh
index 189749b8a43..bb414d33129 100755
--- a/protos/depcheck.sh
+++ b/protos/depcheck.sh
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ set -e
 
 readonly PROTOCMINVER="3.6.1"
 
-which protoc &>/dev/null || (echo "Error: protoc not found" ; exit 1)
+which protoc &>/dev/null || (echo "Error: protoc not found" >&2; exit 1)
 
 PROTOCVER=`protoc --version | awk '{printf $2}'`
 
@@ -14,11 +14,12 @@ function CompareSemVer() {
 	local minver=(${1//./ })
 	local curver=(${2//./ })
 
-	echo "Checking for semantic version $1 or newer"
+	echo -n "Checking protoc for semantic version $1 or newer... "
 
 	for i in 0 1 2; do
 		if [ ${minver[$i]} -gt ${curver[$i]} ]; then
-			echo "Error: version $2 is lower than the required version $1"
+			echo "FAIL" >&2
+			echo "Error: version $2 is lower than the required version $1" >&2
 			exit 1
 		elif [ ${curver[$i]} -gt ${minver[$i]} ]; then
 			break
@@ -26,10 +27,21 @@ function CompareSemVer() {
 	done
 }
 
-CompareSemVer $PROTOCMINVER $PROTOCVER
+function CheckProtobufIncludes() {
+	echo -n "Checking for directory /usr/local/include/google/protobuf... "
+	if [ ! -d /usr/local/include/google/protobuf ]; then
+		echo "FAIL" >&2
+		echo "Missing protobuf types in /usr/local/include/google/protobuf: directory not found" >&2
+		echo "Download and install protoc and the protobuf types from protobuf releases page:" >&2
+		echo "https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases/" >&2
+		exit 1
+	fi
+}
 
-# TODO: check proto api versions
+CompareSemVer $PROTOCMINVER $PROTOCVER
+echo "OK"
 
+CheckProtobufIncludes
 echo "OK"
 
 exit 0