diff --git a/pwntools/install-root-ubuntu b/pwntools/install-root-ubuntu
index 8212652..20d4707 100755
--- a/pwntools/install-root-ubuntu
+++ b/pwntools/install-root-ubuntu
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 #!/bin/bash -ex
 
-apt-get -y install software-properties-common
-apt-add-repository -y ppa:pwntools/binutils
-apt-get update
-apt-get -y install binutils-.*-linux-gnu libffi-dev libssl-dev
+apt-get install -y python2.7 python-pip python-dev git libssl-dev libffi-dev build-essential
+
+if [[ $(lsb_release -rs | sed 's/\(..\)\.../\1/') -lt 16 ]]; then 
+    echo "using pwntools binutils ppa for pre-xenial ubuntu"
+    apt-get -y install software-properties-common
+    apt-add-repository -y ppa:pwntools/binutils
+    apt-get update
+    apt-get -y install binutils-.*-linux-gnu 
+fi