diff --git a/.golangci.json b/.golangci.json
index c1c6c3e2b5..7ad9d7402f 100644
--- a/.golangci.json
+++ b/.golangci.json
@@ -35,4 +35,4 @@
 			}
 		]
 	}
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Dockerfile.dapper b/Dockerfile.dapper
index a044b100f2..a9293f67c1 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.dapper
+++ b/Dockerfile.dapper
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ RUN if [ "$(go env GOARCH)" = "arm64" ]; then
     mv trivy /usr/local/bin;                                                                                \
     fi
 # this works for both go 1.15 and 1.16
-RUN GO111MODULE=on GOPROXY=direct go get golang.org/x/tools/cmd/goimports@gopls/v0.7.0
+RUN GOPROXY=direct go get golang.org/x/tools/cmd/goimports@gopls/v0.7.0
 RUN rm -rf /go/src /go/pkg
 
 RUN if [ "$(go env GOARCH)" = "amd64" ]; then \
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@ RUN wget -O - ${YQ_URL}_$(go env GOARCH) > /usr/bin/yq && chmod +x /usr/bin/yq
 ARG SELINUX=true
 ENV SELINUX $SELINUX
 
-ENV GO111MODULE off
 ENV DAPPER_RUN_ARGS --privileged -v k3s-cache:/go/src/github.com/rancher/k3s/.cache -v trivy-cache:/root/.cache/trivy
 ENV DAPPER_ENV REPO TAG DRONE_TAG IMAGE_NAME SKIP_VALIDATE GCLOUD_AUTH GITHUB_TOKEN GOLANG
 ENV DAPPER_SOURCE /go/src/github.com/rancher/k3s/
diff --git a/pkg/data/data.go b/pkg/data/data.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0ad59c200c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/data/data.go
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+package data
diff --git a/scripts/build b/scripts/build
index 95df6050ec..5e7d4b049b 100755
--- a/scripts/build
+++ b/scripts/build
@@ -16,26 +16,25 @@ PKG_K8S_CLIENT="k8s.io/client-go/pkg"
 
 buildDate=$(date -u '+%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ')
 
-VENDOR_PREFIX="${PKG}/vendor/"
 VERSIONFLAGS="
     -X ${PKG}/pkg/version.Version=${VERSION}
     -X ${PKG}/pkg/version.GitCommit=${COMMIT:0:8}
 
-    -X ${VENDOR_PREFIX}${PKG_K8S_CLIENT}/version.gitVersion=${VERSION}
-    -X ${VENDOR_PREFIX}${PKG_K8S_CLIENT}/version.gitCommit=${COMMIT}
-    -X ${VENDOR_PREFIX}${PKG_K8S_CLIENT}/version.gitTreeState=${TREE_STATE}
-    -X ${VENDOR_PREFIX}${PKG_K8S_CLIENT}/version.buildDate=${buildDate}
+    -X ${PKG_K8S_CLIENT}/version.gitVersion=${VERSION}
+    -X ${PKG_K8S_CLIENT}/version.gitCommit=${COMMIT}
+    -X ${PKG_K8S_CLIENT}/version.gitTreeState=${TREE_STATE}
+    -X ${PKG_K8S_CLIENT}/version.buildDate=${buildDate}
 
-    -X ${VENDOR_PREFIX}${PKG_K8S_BASE}/version.gitVersion=${VERSION}
-    -X ${VENDOR_PREFIX}${PKG_K8S_BASE}/version.gitCommit=${COMMIT}
-    -X ${VENDOR_PREFIX}${PKG_K8S_BASE}/version.gitTreeState=${TREE_STATE}
-    -X ${VENDOR_PREFIX}${PKG_K8S_BASE}/version.buildDate=${buildDate}
+    -X ${PKG_K8S_BASE}/version.gitVersion=${VERSION}
+    -X ${PKG_K8S_BASE}/version.gitCommit=${COMMIT}
+    -X ${PKG_K8S_BASE}/version.gitTreeState=${TREE_STATE}
+    -X ${PKG_K8S_BASE}/version.buildDate=${buildDate}
 
-    -X ${VENDOR_PREFIX}${PKG_CRICTL}/version.Version=${VERSION_CRICTL}
+    -X ${PKG_CRICTL}/version.Version=${VERSION_CRICTL}
 
-    -X ${VENDOR_PREFIX}${PKG_CONTAINERD}/version.Version=${VERSION_CONTAINERD}
-    -X ${VENDOR_PREFIX}${PKG_CONTAINERD}/version.Package=${PKG_K3S_CONTAINERD}
-    -X ${VENDOR_PREFIX}${PKG_CRICTL}/pkg/version.Version=${VERSION_CRICTL}
+    -X ${PKG_CONTAINERD}/version.Version=${VERSION_CONTAINERD}
+    -X ${PKG_CONTAINERD}/version.Package=${PKG_K3S_CONTAINERD}
+    -X ${PKG_CRICTL}/pkg/version.Version=${VERSION_CRICTL}
 "
 LDFLAGS="
     -w -s"
@@ -96,7 +95,7 @@ if [ ! -x ${INSTALLBIN}/cni ]; then
     WORKDIR=$TMPDIR/src/github.com/containernetworking/plugins
     git clone -b $VERSION_CNIPLUGINS https://github.com/rancher/plugins.git $WORKDIR
     cd $WORKDIR
-    GOPATH=$TMPDIR CGO_ENABLED=0 "${GO}" build -tags "$TAGS" -ldflags "$LDFLAGS $STATIC" -o $INSTALLBIN/cni
+    GO111MODULE=off GOPATH=$TMPDIR CGO_ENABLED=0 "${GO}" build -tags "$TAGS" -ldflags "$LDFLAGS $STATIC" -o $INSTALLBIN/cni
 )
 fi
 
@@ -113,10 +112,10 @@ ln -s containerd ./bin/ctr
 
 echo Building runc
 rm -f ./build/src/github.com/opencontainers/runc/runc
-make GOPATH=$(pwd)/build EXTRA_LDFLAGS="-w -s" BUILDTAGS="$RUNC_TAGS" -C ./build/src/github.com/opencontainers/runc $RUNC_STATIC
+GO111MODULE=off make GOPATH=$(pwd)/build EXTRA_LDFLAGS="-w -s" BUILDTAGS="$RUNC_TAGS" -C ./build/src/github.com/opencontainers/runc $RUNC_STATIC
 cp -f ./build/src/github.com/opencontainers/runc/runc ./bin/runc
 
 echo Building containerd-shim-runc-v2
 rm -f ./vendor/github.com/containerd/containerd/bin/containerd-shim-runc-v2
-make -C ./vendor/github.com/containerd/containerd bin/containerd-shim-runc-v2
+GO111MODULE=off make -C ./vendor/github.com/containerd/containerd bin/containerd-shim-runc-v2
 cp -f ./vendor/github.com/containerd/containerd/bin/containerd-shim-runc-v2 ./bin/containerd-shim-runc-v2
diff --git a/scripts/ci b/scripts/ci
index 21df29638e..9fb3ec5fb6 100755
--- a/scripts/ci
+++ b/scripts/ci
@@ -5,10 +5,7 @@ SCRIPT_DIR=$(dirname $0)
 pushd $SCRIPT_DIR
 
 ./download
-if [ -z "$SKIP_VALIDATE" ]; then
-    ./validate
-fi
-
+./validate
 ./build
 ./package
 
diff --git a/scripts/validate b/scripts/validate
index 098fc4e77b..85b80f5116 100755
--- a/scripts/validate
+++ b/scripts/validate
@@ -3,27 +3,36 @@ set -e
 
 cd $(dirname $0)/..
 
-GO=${GO-go}
+echo Running: go mod tidy
+go mod tidy
+
+echo Running: go generate
+go generate
+
+echo Running: go mod vendor
+go mod vendor
+
+if [ -n "$SKIP_VALIDATE" ]; then
+    echo Skipping validation
+    exit
+fi
 
 if ! command -v golangci-lint; then
     echo Skipping validation: no golangci-lint available
     exit
 fi
+
 echo Running validation
+echo Running: go mod verify
+go mod verify
 
 if [ ! -e build/data ];then
     mkdir -p build/data
 fi
 
-echo Running: "${GO}" generate
-"${GO}" generate
-
 echo Running: golangci-lint
 golangci-lint run -v
 
-GO111MODULE=on go mod tidy
-GO111MODULE=on go mod vendor
-
 . ./scripts/version.sh
 
 if [ -n "$DIRTY" ]; then