diff --git a/tests/boulder-start.sh b/tests/boulder-start.sh
index 7ce7dcba4..530f9c598 100755
--- a/tests/boulder-start.sh
+++ b/tests/boulder-start.sh
@@ -4,11 +4,17 @@
 
 # ugh, go version output is like:
 # go version go1.4.2 linux/amd64
-GOVER=`go version | cut -d" " -f3 | cut -do -f2`  
+GOVER=`go version | cut -d" " -f3 | cut -do -f2`
 
 # version comparison
 function verlte {
+  #OS X doesn't support version sorting; emulate with sed
+  if [ `uname` == 'Darwin' ]; then
+    [ "$1" = "`echo -e \"$1\n$2\" |  sed 's/\b\([0-9]\)\b/0\1/g' \
+      | sort | sed 's/\b0\([0-9]\)/\1/g' | head -n1`" ]
+  else
     [  "$1" = "`echo -e "$1\n$2" | sort -V | head -n1`" ]
+  fi
 }
 
 if ! verlte 1.5 "$GOVER" ; then