diff --git a/cookbooks/main/libraries/release_version.rb b/cookbooks/main/libraries/release_version.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8dad495e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cookbooks/main/libraries/release_version.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+class Chef
+  class Recipe
+    def release_version
+      release = File.read('/etc/engineyard/release')
+      return "v4" if release.to_i > 2009
+      "v2"
+    end
+  end
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/cookbooks/postgresql9_extensions/recipes/ext_postgis2_install.rb b/cookbooks/postgresql9_extensions/recipes/ext_postgis2_install.rb
index 7a61724c..e01d161b 100644
--- a/cookbooks/postgresql9_extensions/recipes/ext_postgis2_install.rb
+++ b/cookbooks/postgresql9_extensions/recipes/ext_postgis2_install.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,12 @@
   postgis_version = "2.0.2"
   proj_version = "4.6.1"
   geos_version = "3.2.2"
-  gdal_version = "1.8.1"
+
+  if release_version == "v2"
+    gdal_version = "1.8.1-r1"
+  else
+    gdal_version = "1.8.1-r2"
+  end
 
   package_use "sci-libs/geos" do
     flags "-ruby"
@@ -23,8 +28,14 @@
     version postgis_version
   end
 
-  package "dev-db/postgis" do
-    version postgis_version
+  # install gdal first so it gets installed via binary package instead of built
+  # from source with postgis below
+  package "sci-libs/gdal" do
+    version gdal_version
     action :install
   end
+
+  execute "setting emerge options" do
+    command "emerge --ignore-default-opts dev-db/postgis"
+  end
 end
diff --git a/cookbooks/postgresql9_extensions/recipes/ext_postgis_install.rb b/cookbooks/postgresql9_extensions/recipes/ext_postgis_install.rb
index eb30a9b0..90f2764b 100644
--- a/cookbooks/postgresql9_extensions/recipes/ext_postgis_install.rb
+++ b/cookbooks/postgresql9_extensions/recipes/ext_postgis_install.rb
@@ -22,16 +22,13 @@
     version postgis_version
     action :install
   end
-elsif ["9.1","9.2"].include?(@node[:postgres_version])
+  elsif ["9.1","9.2"].include?(@node[:postgres_version])
   if @node[:postgres_version] == "9.1"
     postgis_version = "1.5.3-r1"
   else
     postgis_version = "1.5.8"
   end
 
-  proj_version = "4.6.1"
-  geos_version = "3.2.2"
-
   package_use "sci-libs/geos" do
     flags "-ruby"
   end