diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 73f8e2ba9..401a03583 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.4)
 
 project(ray)
 
diff --git a/doc/source/install-on-ubuntu.rst b/doc/source/install-on-ubuntu.rst
index ba422a4e5..8579ac690 100644
--- a/doc/source/install-on-ubuntu.rst
+++ b/doc/source/install-on-ubuntu.rst
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ To build Ray, first install the following dependencies. We recommend using
   sudo apt-get install python-dev  # For Python 2.
   sudo apt-get install python3-dev  # For Python 3.
 
+  # If you are on Ubuntu 14.04, you need the following.
+  pip install cmake
+
   pip install numpy cloudpickle funcsigs click colorama psutil redis flatbuffers
 
 
diff --git a/src/common/CMakeLists.txt b/src/common/CMakeLists.txt
index 79333a98c..9492daf59 100644
--- a/src/common/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/common/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.4)
 
 project(common)
 
diff --git a/src/common/redis_module/CMakeLists.txt b/src/common/redis_module/CMakeLists.txt
index afea36d7b..53ce77d8d 100644
--- a/src/common/redis_module/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/common/redis_module/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.4)
 
 project(ray_redis_module)
 
diff --git a/src/global_scheduler/CMakeLists.txt b/src/global_scheduler/CMakeLists.txt
index cd5d8cbb9..6e09b0c1c 100644
--- a/src/global_scheduler/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/global_scheduler/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.4)
 
 project(global_scheduler)
 
diff --git a/src/local_scheduler/CMakeLists.txt b/src/local_scheduler/CMakeLists.txt
index fc1f935ce..dbfe56d6f 100644
--- a/src/local_scheduler/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/local_scheduler/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.4)
 
 project(local_scheduler)
 
diff --git a/src/numbuf/CMakeLists.txt b/src/numbuf/CMakeLists.txt
index 96573cbdd..239e2042c 100644
--- a/src/numbuf/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/numbuf/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.4)
 
 project(numbuf)
 
diff --git a/src/plasma/CMakeLists.txt b/src/plasma/CMakeLists.txt
index 4b6b54d4b..1f09b683f 100644
--- a/src/plasma/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/plasma/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.4)
 
 project(plasma)