diff --git a/fdroidserver/build.py b/fdroidserver/build.py
index d29901bb..84af7f41 100644
--- a/fdroidserver/build.py
+++ b/fdroidserver/build.py
@@ -1090,9 +1090,7 @@ def main():
                         logging.info("...retrieving " + url)
                         of = "{0}_{1}.apk.binary".format(app['id'], thisbuild['vercode'])
                         of = os.path.join(output_dir, of)
-                        p = FDroidPopen(['wget', '-nv', '-O', of, url])
-                        if p.returncode != 0 or not os.path.exists(of):
-                            raise BuildException("...failed to retrieve " + url)
+                        common.download_file(url, local_filename=of)
 
                     build_succeeded.append(app)
                     wikilog = "Build succeeded"
diff --git a/fdroidserver/common.py b/fdroidserver/common.py
index d427c0d0..3c672728 100644
--- a/fdroidserver/common.py
+++ b/fdroidserver/common.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import sys
 import re
 import shutil
 import glob
+import requests
 import stat
 import subprocess
 import time
@@ -70,8 +71,8 @@ default_config = {
     'keystore': 'keystore.jks',
     'smartcardoptions': [],
     'char_limits': {
-        'Summary': 50,
-        'Description': 1500
+        'Summary': 80,
+        'Description': 4000
     },
     'keyaliases': {},
     'repo_url': "https://MyFirstFDroidRepo.org/fdroid/repo",
@@ -2072,3 +2073,17 @@ def string_is_integer(string):
         return True
     except ValueError:
         return False
+
+
+def download_file(url, local_filename=None, dldir='tmp'):
+    filename = url.split('/')[-1]
+    if local_filename is None:
+        local_filename = os.path.join(dldir, filename)
+    # the stream=True parameter keeps memory usage low
+    r = requests.get(url, stream=True)
+    with open(local_filename, 'wb') as f:
+        for chunk in r.iter_content(chunk_size=1024):
+            if chunk:  # filter out keep-alive new chunks
+                f.write(chunk)
+                f.flush()
+    return local_filename
diff --git a/fdroidserver/update.py b/fdroidserver/update.py
index 5afa8758..17694f0d 100644
--- a/fdroidserver/update.py
+++ b/fdroidserver/update.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import socket
 import zipfile
 import hashlib
 import pickle
+from datetime import datetime, timedelta
 from xml.dom.minidom import Document
 from optparse import OptionParser
 import time
@@ -542,6 +543,19 @@ def scan_apks(apps, apkcache, repodir, knownapks):
 
             apk = zipfile.ZipFile(apkfile, 'r')
 
+            # if an APK has files newer than the system time, suggest updating
+            # the system clock.  This is useful for offline systems, used for
+            # signing, which do not have another source of clock sync info. It
+            # has to be more than 24 hours newer because ZIP/APK files do not
+            # store timezone info
+            info = apk.getinfo('AndroidManifest.xml')
+            dt_obj = datetime(*info.date_time)
+            checkdt = dt_obj - timedelta(1)
+            if datetime.today() < checkdt:
+                logging.warn('System clock is older than manifest in: '
+                             + apkfilename + '\nSet clock to that time using:\n'
+                             + 'sudo date -s "' + str(dt_obj) + '"')
+
             iconfilename = "%s.%s.png" % (
                 thisinfo['id'],
                 thisinfo['versioncode'])
diff --git a/fdroidserver/verify.py b/fdroidserver/verify.py
index 9139d37a..fd0464eb 100644
--- a/fdroidserver/verify.py
+++ b/fdroidserver/verify.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ from optparse import OptionParser
 import logging
 
 import common
-from common import FDroidPopen, FDroidException
+from common import FDroidException
 
 options = None
 config = None
@@ -78,9 +78,7 @@ def main():
                 os.remove(remoteapk)
             url = 'https://f-droid.org/repo/' + apkfilename
             logging.info("...retrieving " + url)
-            p = FDroidPopen(['wget', '-nv', url], cwd=tmp_dir)
-            if p.returncode != 0:
-                raise FDroidException("Failed to get " + apkfilename)
+            common.download_file(url, dldir=tmp_dir)
 
             compare_result = common.compare_apks(
                 os.path.join(unsigned_dir, apkfilename),
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 49281d9e..bfd5d106 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ setup(name='fdroidserver',
           'apache-libcloud >= 0.14.1',
           'pyasn1',
           'pyasn1-modules',
+          'requests',
       ],
       classifiers=[
           'Development Status :: 3 - Alpha',