diff --git a/admin/scons/Platform.py b/admin/scons/Platform.py
index 81bf1d448..adb2ac758 100644
--- a/admin/scons/Platform.py
+++ b/admin/scons/Platform.py
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ def configure(env):
     if not conf.CheckPkgConfig('cairomm-1.0', 0.6):
         problems.append('Unable to configure Cairo--')
     
-    verGDL   = '3.12'
+    verGDL   = '3.8' # NOTE: lowered requriements here (was originally '3.12')
     verGDLmm = '3.7.3'
     urlGDLmm = 'http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/gdlmm/'
     urlGDLmmDEB = 'http://lumiera.org/debian/'