diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 5a772888d..672db4ddf 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -223,7 +223,8 @@ brotli = [
 
 openssl = dependency('libcrypto', 'openssl', required : true)
 
-aws_sdk = dependency('aws-cpp-sdk-core', required : false)
+# FIXME: confirm we actually support such old versions of aws-sdk-cpp
+aws_sdk = dependency('aws-cpp-sdk-core', required : false, version : '>=1.8')
 aws_sdk_transfer = dependency('aws-cpp-sdk-transfer', required : aws_sdk.found(), fallback : ['aws_sdk', 'aws_cpp_sdk_transfer_dep'])
 if aws_sdk.found()
   # The AWS pkg-config adds -std=c++11.
@@ -235,12 +236,6 @@ if aws_sdk.found()
     links : true,
     sources : true,
   )
-  s = aws_sdk.version().split('.')
-  configdata += {
-    'AWS_VERSION_MAJOR': s[0].to_int(),
-    'AWS_VERSION_MINOR': s[1].to_int(),
-    'AWS_VERSION_PATCH': s[2].to_int(),
-  }
   aws_sdk_transfer = aws_sdk_transfer.partial_dependency(
     compile_args : false,
     includes : true,
diff --git a/src/libstore/s3-binary-cache-store.cc b/src/libstore/s3-binary-cache-store.cc
index 13a709104..51193dc6f 100644
--- a/src/libstore/s3-binary-cache-store.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/s3-binary-cache-store.cc
@@ -58,9 +58,7 @@ class AwsLogger : public Aws::Utils::Logging::FormattedLogSystem
         debug("AWS: %s", chomp(statement));
     }
 
-#if !(AWS_VERSION_MAJOR <= 1 && AWS_VERSION_MINOR <= 7 && AWS_VERSION_PATCH <= 115)
     void Flush() override {}
-#endif
 };
 
 static void initAWS()
@@ -100,12 +98,7 @@ S3Helper::S3Helper(
             : std::dynamic_pointer_cast<Aws::Auth::AWSCredentialsProvider>(
                 std::make_shared<Aws::Auth::ProfileConfigFileAWSCredentialsProvider>(profile.c_str())),
             *config,
-            // FIXME: https://github.com/aws/aws-sdk-cpp/issues/759
-#if AWS_VERSION_MAJOR == 1 && AWS_VERSION_MINOR < 3
-            false,
-#else
             Aws::Client::AWSAuthV4Signer::PayloadSigningPolicy::Never,
-#endif
             endpoint.empty()))
 {
 }