--- a/Rakefile	1970-01-01 01:00:00.000000000 +0100
+++ b/Rakefile	2014-01-04 00:19:25.206135726 +0000
@@ -2,15 +2,12 @@
 require 'rubygems/package_task'
 require 'rake/testtask'
 
-ENV["REDIS_BRANCH"] ||= "unstable"
-
 $:.unshift File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'lib')
 require 'redis/version'
 
 REDIS_DIR = File.expand_path(File.join("..", "test"), __FILE__)
 REDIS_CNF = File.join(REDIS_DIR, "test.conf")
 REDIS_PID = File.join(REDIS_DIR, "db", "redis.pid")
-BINARY = "tmp/redis-#{ENV["REDIS_BRANCH"]}/src/redis-server"
 
 task :default => :run
 
@@ -18,9 +15,7 @@
 task :run => [:start, :test, :stop]
 
 desc "Start the Redis server"
-task :start => BINARY do
-  sh "#{BINARY} --version"
-
+task :start do
   redis_running = \
   begin
     File.exists?(REDIS_PID) && Process.kill(0, File.read(REDIS_PID).to_i)
@@ -30,8 +25,14 @@
   end
 
   unless redis_running
-    unless system("#{BINARY} #{REDIS_CNF}")
-      abort "could not start redis-server"
+    unless system("which redis-server")
+      STDERR.puts "redis-server not in PATH"
+      exit 1
+    end
+
+    unless system("redis-server #{REDIS_CNF}")
+      STDERR.puts "could not start redis-server"
+      exit 1
     end
   end
 end
@@ -44,21 +45,9 @@
   end
 end
 
-file BINARY do
-  branch = ENV.fetch("REDIS_BRANCH")
-
-  sh <<-SH
-  mkdir -p tmp;
-  cd tmp;
-  wget https://github.com/antirez/redis/archive/#{branch}.tar.gz -O #{branch}.tar.gz;
-  tar xf #{branch}.tar.gz;
-  cd redis-#{branch};
-  make
-  SH
-end
-
 Rake::TestTask.new do |t|
   t.options = "-v"
+  t.libs << "test"
   t.test_files = FileList["test/*_test.rb"]
 end