diff --git a/cmd/package_show.go b/cmd/package_show.go
index ba9ab0b8..91943c9e 100644
--- a/cmd/package_show.go
+++ b/cmd/package_show.go
@@ -55,11 +55,8 @@ func printReferencesTo(p *deb.Package) (err error) {
 		}
 		return nil
 	})
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
 
-	return nil
+	return err
 }
 
 func aptlyPackageShow(cmd *commander.Command, args []string) error {
diff --git a/context/context.go b/context/context.go
index 7938ffc3..955416c2 100644
--- a/context/context.go
+++ b/context/context.go
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ func (context *AptlyContext) ReOpenDatabase() error {
 
 	for try := 0; try < MaxTries; try++ {
 		err := context.database.ReOpen()
-		if err == nil || strings.Index(err.Error(), "resource temporarily unavailable") == -1 {
+		if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "resource temporarily unavailable") {
 			return err
 		}
 		context._progress().Printf("Unable to reopen database, sleeping %s\n", Delay)
diff --git a/deb/changes.go b/deb/changes.go
index 45027827..8737dfd2 100644
--- a/deb/changes.go
+++ b/deb/changes.go
@@ -103,11 +103,7 @@ func (c *Changes) VerifyAndParse(acceptUnsigned, ignoreSignature bool, verifier
 	c.Architectures = strings.Fields(c.Stanza["Architecture"])
 
 	c.Files, err = c.Files.ParseSumFields(c.Stanza)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	return nil
+	return err
 }
 
 // Prepare creates temporary directory, copies file there and verifies checksums
@@ -181,8 +177,7 @@ func (c *Changes) PackageQuery() (PackageQuery, error) {
 	if len(c.Binary) > 0 {
 		binaryQuery = &FieldQuery{Field: "Name", Relation: VersionEqual, Value: c.Binary[0]}
 		// matching debug ddeb packages, they're not present in the Binary field
-		var ddebQuery PackageQuery
-		ddebQuery = &FieldQuery{Field: "Name", Relation: VersionEqual, Value: fmt.Sprintf("%s-dbgsym", c.Binary[0])}
+		var ddebQuery PackageQuery = &FieldQuery{Field: "Name", Relation: VersionEqual, Value: fmt.Sprintf("%s-dbgsym", c.Binary[0])}
 
 		for _, binary := range c.Binary[1:] {
 			binaryQuery = &OrQuery{
diff --git a/deb/deb.go b/deb/deb.go
index af74e29e..ab720923 100644
--- a/deb/deb.go
+++ b/deb/deb.go
@@ -175,9 +175,7 @@ func GetContentsFromDeb(file aptly.ReadSeekerCloser, packageFile string) ([]stri
 					continue
 				}
 
-				if strings.HasPrefix(tarHeader.Name, "./") {
-					tarHeader.Name = tarHeader.Name[2:]
-				}
+				tarHeader.Name = strings.TrimPrefix(tarHeader.Name[2:], "./")
 				results = append(results, tarHeader.Name)
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/deb/package.go b/deb/package.go
index b6d7f52a..d36ece65 100644
--- a/deb/package.go
+++ b/deb/package.go
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@ func (p *Package) GetDependencies(options int) (dependencies []string) {
 		if source == "" {
 			source = p.Name
 		}
-		if strings.Index(source, ")") != -1 {
+		if strings.Contains(source, ")") {
 			dependencies = append(dependencies, fmt.Sprintf("%s {source}", source))
 		} else {
 			dependencies = append(dependencies, fmt.Sprintf("%s (= %s) {source}", source, p.Version))
diff --git a/deb/package_test.go b/deb/package_test.go
index 75e2b840..b3d34e76 100644
--- a/deb/package_test.go
+++ b/deb/package_test.go
@@ -299,7 +299,7 @@ func (s *PackageSuite) TestMatchesDependency(c *C) {
 	// ~
 	c.Check(
 		p.MatchesDependency(Dependency{Pkg: "alien-arena-common", Architecture: "i386", Relation: VersionRegexp, Version: "7\\.40-.*",
-			Regexp: regexp.MustCompile("7\\.40-.*")}), Equals, true)
+			Regexp: regexp.MustCompile(`7\.40-.*`)}), Equals, true)
 	c.Check(
 		p.MatchesDependency(Dependency{Pkg: "alien-arena-common", Architecture: "i386", Relation: VersionRegexp, Version: "7\\.40-.*",
 			Regexp: regexp.MustCompile("40")}), Equals, true)
diff --git a/deb/publish.go b/deb/publish.go
index 3982b2fd..bec7b8f0 100644
--- a/deb/publish.go
+++ b/deb/publish.go
@@ -226,12 +226,7 @@ func NewPublishedRepo(storage, prefix, distribution string, architectures []stri
 
 	// clean & verify prefix
 	prefix = filepath.Clean(prefix)
-	if strings.HasPrefix(prefix, "/") {
-		prefix = prefix[1:]
-	}
-	if strings.HasSuffix(prefix, "/") {
-		prefix = prefix[:len(prefix)-1]
-	}
+	prefix = strings.TrimPrefix(strings.TrimSuffix(prefix, "/"), "/")
 	prefix = filepath.Clean(prefix)
 
 	for _, part := range strings.Split(prefix, "/") {
@@ -252,7 +247,7 @@ func NewPublishedRepo(storage, prefix, distribution string, architectures []stri
 		}
 	}
 
-	if strings.Index(distribution, "/") != -1 {
+	if strings.Contains(distribution, "/") {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid distribution %s, '/' is not allowed", distribution)
 	}
 
@@ -474,8 +469,7 @@ func (p *PublishedRepo) Publish(packagePool aptly.PackagePool, publishedStorageP
 		return err
 	}
 	defer func() {
-		var e error
-		e = tempDB.Close()
+		e := tempDB.Close()
 		if e != nil && progress != nil {
 			progress.Printf("failed to close temp DB: %s", err)
 		}
@@ -730,12 +724,7 @@ func (p *PublishedRepo) Publish(packagePool aptly.PackagePool, publishedStorageP
 		return err
 	}
 
-	err = indexes.RenameFiles()
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	return nil
+	return indexes.RenameFiles()
 }
 
 // RemoveFiles removes files that were created by Publish
diff --git a/deb/publish_test.go b/deb/publish_test.go
index e96509e8..cd7c6618 100644
--- a/deb/publish_test.go
+++ b/deb/publish_test.go
@@ -505,6 +505,7 @@ func (s *PublishedRepoCollectionSuite) TestAddByStoragePrefixDistribution(c *C)
 	c.Assert(r.String(), Equals, s.repo1.String())
 
 	r, err = s.collection.ByStoragePrefixDistribution("files:other", "ppa", "precise")
+	c.Assert(err, IsNil)
 	c.Check(r.String(), Equals, s.repo5.String())
 }
 
diff --git a/deb/query.go b/deb/query.go
index 9b8ed30b..a96af829 100644
--- a/deb/query.go
+++ b/deb/query.go
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ func (q *FieldQuery) Fast(list PackageCatalog) bool {
 // String interface
 func (q *FieldQuery) String() string {
 	escape := func(val string) string {
-		if strings.IndexAny(val, "()|,!{} \t\n") != -1 {
+		if strings.ContainsAny(val, "()|,!{} \t\n") {
 			return "'" + strings.Replace(strings.Replace(val, "\\", "\\\\", -1), "'", "\\'", -1) + "'"
 		}
 		return val
diff --git a/deb/reflist.go b/deb/reflist.go
index 4dcb66ed..1c8a4255 100644
--- a/deb/reflist.go
+++ b/deb/reflist.go
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ func (l *PackageRefList) Has(p *Package) bool {
 	key := p.Key("")
 
 	i := sort.Search(len(l.Refs), func(j int) bool { return bytes.Compare(l.Refs[j], key) >= 0 })
-	return i < len(l.Refs) && bytes.Compare(l.Refs[i], key) == 0
+	return i < len(l.Refs) && bytes.Equal(l.Refs[i], key)
 }
 
 // Strings builds list of strings with package keys
diff --git a/deb/remote.go b/deb/remote.go
index a0f1ae6d..4d05cdcd 100644
--- a/deb/remote.go
+++ b/deb/remote.go
@@ -331,9 +331,7 @@ ok:
 		if strings.Contains(repo.Distribution, "/") {
 			distributionLast := path.Base(repo.Distribution) + "/"
 			for i := range components {
-				if strings.HasPrefix(components[i], distributionLast) {
-					components[i] = components[i][len(distributionLast):]
-				}
+				components[i] = strings.TrimPrefix(components[i], distributionLast)
 			}
 		}
 		if len(repo.Components) == 0 {
diff --git a/linter.json b/linter.json
index c3040f1e..8d5916a9 100644
--- a/linter.json
+++ b/linter.json
@@ -1,4 +1,13 @@
 {
     "DisableAll": true,
-    "Enable": ["vet", "golint", "gofmt", "deadcode", "goimports", "misspell"]
+    "Enable": [
+        "vet",
+        "golint",
+        "gofmt",
+        "deadcode",
+        "goimports",
+        "misspell",
+        "gosimple",
+        "ineffassign"
+    ]
 }
diff --git a/query/syntax_test.go b/query/syntax_test.go
index 50efaed0..1acf3e15 100644
--- a/query/syntax_test.go
+++ b/query/syntax_test.go
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ func (s *SyntaxSuite) TestParsing(c *C) {
 
 	c.Assert(err, IsNil)
 	c.Check(q, DeepEquals, &deb.DependencyQuery{Dep: deb.Dependency{Pkg: "package", Relation: deb.VersionRegexp, Version: "5\\.3.*~dev",
-		Regexp: regexp.MustCompile("5\\.3.*~dev")}})
+		Regexp: regexp.MustCompile(`5\.3.*~dev`)}})
 
 	l, _ = lex("query", "alien-data_1.3.4~dev_i386")
 	q, err = parse(l)
diff --git a/s3/public.go b/s3/public.go
index 7f709675..bcd39d57 100644
--- a/s3/public.go
+++ b/s3/public.go
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ func (storage *PublishedStorage) putFile(path string, source io.ReadSeeker) erro
 		return err
 	}
 
-	if storage.plusWorkaround && strings.Index(path, "+") != -1 {
+	if storage.plusWorkaround && strings.Contains(path, "+") {
 		_, err = source.Seek(0, 0)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ func (storage *PublishedStorage) Remove(path string) error {
 		return errors.Wrap(err, fmt.Sprintf("error deleting %s from %s", path, storage))
 	}
 
-	if storage.plusWorkaround && strings.Index(path, "+") != -1 {
+	if storage.plusWorkaround && strings.Contains(path, "+") {
 		// try to remove workaround version, but don't care about result
 		_ = storage.Remove(strings.Replace(path, "+", " ", -1))
 	}
@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@ func (storage *PublishedStorage) internalFilelist(prefix string, hidePlusWorkaro
 
 	err = storage.s3.ListObjectsPages(params, func(contents *s3.ListObjectsOutput, lastPage bool) bool {
 		for _, key := range contents.Contents {
-			if storage.plusWorkaround && hidePlusWorkaround && strings.Index(*key.Key, " ") != -1 {
+			if storage.plusWorkaround && hidePlusWorkaround && strings.Contains(*key.Key, " ") {
 				// if we use plusWorkaround, we want to hide those duplicates
 				/// from listing
 				continue
diff --git a/s3/server_test.go b/s3/server_test.go
index 6be5cff6..ccfcd8d9 100644
--- a/s3/server_test.go
+++ b/s3/server_test.go
@@ -646,7 +646,7 @@ func (objr objectResource) put(a *action) interface{} {
 		fatalError(400, "TODO", "read error")
 	}
 	gotHash := sum.Sum(nil)
-	if expectHash != nil && bytes.Compare(gotHash, expectHash) != 0 {
+	if expectHash != nil && !bytes.Equal(gotHash, expectHash) {
 		fatalError(400, "BadDigest", "The Content-MD5 you specified did not match what we received")
 	}
 	if a.req.ContentLength >= 0 && int64(len(data)) != a.req.ContentLength {
diff --git a/utils/gpg.go b/utils/gpg.go
index 23d3701c..70a46b4a 100644
--- a/utils/gpg.go
+++ b/utils/gpg.go
@@ -324,16 +324,12 @@ func (g *GpgVerifier) VerifyDetachedSignature(signature, cleartext io.Reader) er
 func (g *GpgVerifier) IsClearSigned(clearsigned io.Reader) (bool, error) {
 	scanner := bufio.NewScanner(clearsigned)
 	for scanner.Scan() {
-		if strings.Index(scanner.Text(), "BEGIN PGP SIGN") != -1 {
+		if strings.Contains(scanner.Text(), "BEGIN PGP SIGN") {
 			return true, nil
 		}
 	}
 
-	if err := scanner.Err(); err != nil {
-		return false, err
-	}
-
-	return false, nil
+	return false, scanner.Err()
 }
 
 // VerifyClearsigned verifies clearsigned file using gpgv