diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index e04be209..cf4262a2 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ BENCHMARK = BenchmarkRAWInput
 TEST = TestRawListenerBench
 BIN_NAME = gor
 VERSION := DEV-$(shell date +%s)
-CUSTOM_TAGS := --tags "ngo$(if $(CUSTOM_BUILD_TAGS), $(CUSTOM_BUILD_TAGS),)"
+CUSTOM_TAGS := -buildvcs=false --tags "ngo$(if $(CUSTOM_BUILD_TAGS), $(CUSTOM_BUILD_TAGS),)"
 LDFLAGS = -ldflags "-X main.VERSION=$(VERSION) -extldflags \"-static\" -X main.DEMO=$(DEMO)"
 MAC_LDFLAGS = -ldflags "-X main.VERSION=$(VERSION) -X main.DEMO=$(DEMO)"
 DOCKER_FPM_CMD := docker run --rm -t -v `pwd`:/src -w /src fleetdm/fpm
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d59b53bd..7f98c36d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -22,6 +22,12 @@ Check [latest documentation](http://github.com/buger/goreplay/wiki).
 ## Installation
 Download the latest binary from https://github.com/buger/goreplay/releases or [compile by yourself](https://github.com/buger/goreplay/wiki/Compilation).
 
+### Building Locally
+To create a release compatible for linux distro
+```bash
+make release-bin-linux-amd64
+```
+
 ## Getting started
 
 The most basic setup will be `sudo ./gor --input-raw :8000 --output-stdout` which acts like tcpdump.
diff --git a/output_kafka.go b/output_kafka.go
index 86ef27c1..127b147a 100644
--- a/output_kafka.go
+++ b/output_kafka.go
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ func NewKafkaOutput(_ string, config *OutputKafkaConfig, tlsConfig *KafkaTLSConf
 		c.Producer.RequiredAcks = sarama.WaitForLocal
 		c.Producer.Compression = sarama.CompressionSnappy
 		c.Producer.Flush.Frequency = KafkaOutputFrequency * time.Millisecond
+		c.Producer.MaxMessageBytes = 8 * 1024 * 1024 // 8 MB
 
 		brokerList := strings.Split(config.Host, ",")