diff --git a/setup/linux-installer.py b/setup/linux-installer.py
index bc035e2b91..32916913c2 100644
--- a/setup/linux-installer.py
+++ b/setup/linux-installer.py
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ from contextlib import closing
 
 is64bit = platform.architecture()[0] == '64bit'
 url = 'http://status.calibre-ebook.com/dist/linux'+('64' if is64bit else '32')
-signature_url = 'http://code.calibre-ebook.com/signatures/%s.sha512'
 url = os.environ.get('CALIBRE_INSTALLER_LOCAL_URL', url)
 py3 = sys.version_info[0] > 2
 enc = getattr(sys.stdout, 'encoding', 'UTF-8') or 'utf-8'
@@ -609,7 +608,7 @@ def extract_tarball(raw, destdir):
 def get_tarball_info():
     global signature, calibre_version
     print ('Downloading tarball signature securely...')
-    raw = get_https_resource_securely('https://status.calibre-ebook.com/tarball-info/' +
+    raw = get_https_resource_securely('https://code.calibre-ebook.com/tarball-info/' +
                                       ('x86_64' if is64bit else 'i686'))
     signature, calibre_version = raw.rpartition(b'@')[::2]
     if not signature or not calibre_version:
diff --git a/setup/upload.py b/setup/upload.py
index 09fe8130ae..58a86b5e5a 100644
--- a/setup/upload.py
+++ b/setup/upload.py
@@ -282,16 +282,10 @@ class UploadToServer(Command):  # {{{
 
     def run(self, opts):
         upload_signatures()
-        check_call('gpg --armor --detach-sign dist/calibre-*.tar.xz',
-                shell=True)
-        check_call('scp dist/calibre-*.tar.xz.asc divok:%s/signatures/'%DOWNLOADS,
-                shell=True)
-        check_call('ssh divok /usr/local/bin/update-calibre',
-                   shell=True)
-        check_call('''ssh divok echo %s \\> %s/latest_version'''
-                   %(__version__, DOWNLOADS), shell=True)
-        check_call('ssh divok /etc/init.d/apache2 graceful',
-                   shell=True)
+        check_call('gpg --armor --detach-sign dist/calibre-*.tar.xz', shell=True)
+        check_call('scp dist/calibre-*.tar.xz.asc code:/srv/code/signatures/', shell=True)
+        check_call('ssh code /etc/cron.hourly/update-calibre-code.py'.split())
+        check_call(('ssh code /apps/update-calibre-version.py ' + __version__).split())
 # }}}
 
 # Testing {{{
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/update.py b/src/calibre/gui2/update.py
index 04d3b21f5f..97fed98b15 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/update.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/update.py
@@ -1,22 +1,22 @@
 __license__   = 'GPL v3'
 __copyright__ = '2008, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>'
 
-import re, binascii, cPickle
+import re, binascii, cPickle, ssl
 from future_builtins import map
 from threading import Thread, Event
 
 from PyQt5.Qt import (QObject, pyqtSignal, Qt, QUrl, QDialog, QGridLayout,
         QLabel, QCheckBox, QDialogButtonBox, QIcon, QPixmap)
-import mechanize
 
 from calibre.constants import (__appname__, __version__, iswindows, isosx,
         isportable, is64bit, numeric_version)
-from calibre import browser, prints, as_unicode
+from calibre import prints, as_unicode
 from calibre.utils.config import prefs
+from calibre.utils.https import get_https_resource_securely
 from calibre.gui2 import config, dynamic, open_url
 from calibre.gui2.dialogs.plugin_updater import get_plugin_updates_available
 
-URL = 'http://status.calibre-ebook.com/latest'
+URL = 'https://code.calibre-ebook.com/latest'
 # URL = 'http://localhost:8000/latest'
 NO_CALIBRE_UPDATE = (0, 0, 0)
 
@@ -28,13 +28,21 @@ def get_download_url():
     return 'http://calibre-ebook.com/download_' + which
 
 def get_newest_version():
-    br = browser()
-    req = mechanize.Request(URL)
-    req.add_header('CALIBRE_VERSION', __version__)
-    req.add_header('CALIBRE_OS',
-            'win' if iswindows else 'osx' if isosx else 'oth')
-    req.add_header('CALIBRE_INSTALL_UUID', prefs['installation_uuid'])
-    version = br.open(req).read().strip()
+    headers={
+        'CALIBRE-VERSION':__version__,
+        'CALIBRE-OS': ('win' if iswindows else 'osx' if isosx else 'oth'),
+        'CALIBRE-INSTALL-UUID': prefs['installation_uuid']
+    }
+    try:
+        version = get_https_resource_securely(URL, headers=headers)
+    except ssl.SSLError as err:
+        if getattr(err, 'reason', None) != 'CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED':
+            raise
+        # certificate verification failed, since the version check contains no
+        # critical information, ignore and proceed
+        # We have to do this as if the calibre CA certificate ever
+        # needs to be revoked, then we wont be able to do version checks
+        version = get_https_resource_securely(URL, headers=headers, cacerts=None)
     try:
         version = version.decode('utf-8').strip()
     except UnicodeDecodeError: