diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index f3982c02a..534c9501a 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -36,9 +36,8 @@ before_install:
   - uname -r
 
 install:
-  - wget https://github.com/google/protobuf/releases/download/v3.1.0/protoc-3.1.0-linux-x86_64.zip -O /tmp/protoc-3.1.0-linux-x86_64.zip
-  - unzip -o -d /tmp/protobuf /tmp/protoc-3.1.0-linux-x86_64.zip
-  - export PATH=$PATH:/tmp/protobuf/bin/
+  - wget https://github.com/google/protobuf/releases/download/v3.3.0/protoc-3.3.0-linux-x86_64.zip -O /tmp/protoc-3.3.0-linux-x86_64.zip
+  - sudo unzip -o -d /usr/local /tmp/protoc-3.3.0-linux-x86_64.zip
   - go get -u github.com/vbatts/git-validation
   - sudo wget https://github.com/crosbymichael/runc/releases/download/ctd-4/runc -O /bin/runc; sudo chmod +x /bin/runc
   - wget https://github.com/xemul/criu/archive/v3.0.tar.gz -O /tmp/criu.tar.gz
@@ -57,6 +56,7 @@ script:
   - make setup
   - make vet
   - make ineffassign
+  - if [ "$GOOS" = "linux" ]; then make check-protos check-api-descriptors; fi
   - make build
   - make binaries
   - if [ "$GOOS" = "linux" ]; then sudo make install ; fi
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index aef96906b..f4aec50a1 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -83,12 +83,18 @@ protos: bin/protoc-gen-gogoctrd ## generate protobuf
 	@echo "$(WHALE) $@"
 	@PATH=${ROOTDIR}/bin:${PATH} protobuild ${PACKAGES}
 
-checkprotos: protos ## check if protobufs needs to be generated again
+check-protos: protos ## check if protobufs needs to be generated again
 	@echo "$(WHALE) $@"
 	@test -z "$$(git status --short | grep ".pb.go" | tee /dev/stderr)" || \
 		((git diff | cat) && \
 		(echo "$(ONI) please run 'make generate' when making changes to proto files" && false))
 
+check-api-descriptors: protos ## check that protobuf changes aren't present.
+	@echo "$(WHALE) $@"
+	@test -z "$$(git status --short | grep ".pb.txt" | tee /dev/stderr)" || \
+		((git diff $$(find . -name '*.pb.txt') | cat) && \
+		(echo "$(ONI) please run 'make protos' when making changes to proto files and check-in the generated descriptor file changes" && false))
+
 # Depends on binaries because vet will silently fail if it can't load compiled
 # imports
 vet: ## run go vet