diff --git a/src/Makefile b/src/Makefile
index 403b2616423..020da636c97 100644
--- a/src/Makefile
+++ b/src/Makefile
@@ -89,7 +89,13 @@ TAR = tar
 
 minisat2-download:
 	@echo "Downloading Minisat 2.2.1"
-	@$(DOWNLOADER) http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/m/minisat2/minisat2_2.2.1.orig.tar.gz
+	@for i in $$(seq 1 3) ; do \
+	  $(DOWNLOADER) \
+	    http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/m/minisat2/minisat2_2.2.1.orig.tar.gz && \
+	    exit 0 ; \
+		$(RM) minisat2_2.2.1.orig.tar.gz ; \
+	  if [ $$i -lt 3 ] ; then echo "Re-trying in 10 seconds" 1>&2 ; sleep 10 ; fi ; \
+	done ; exit 1
 	@$(TAR) xfz minisat2_2.2.1.orig.tar.gz
 	@rm -Rf ../minisat-2.2.1
 	@mv minisat2-2.2.1 ../minisat-2.2.1
diff --git a/src/solvers/CMakeLists.txt b/src/solvers/CMakeLists.txt
index 19aa7d29c55..162efa32c79 100644
--- a/src/solvers/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/solvers/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -60,6 +60,9 @@ include("${CBMC_SOURCE_DIR}/../cmake/DownloadProject.cmake")
 if("${sat_impl}" STREQUAL "minisat2")
     message(STATUS "Building solvers with minisat2")
 
+    # once we upgrade to CMake 3.7 or higher we can specify multiple URLs as a
+    # fall-back in case the first URL fails (the Makefile-based build retries up
+    # to 2 times)
     download_project(PROJ minisat2
         URL http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/m/minisat2/minisat2_2.2.1.orig.tar.gz
         PATCH_COMMAND patch -p1 -i ${CBMC_SOURCE_DIR}/../scripts/minisat-2.2.1-patch