diff --git a/assets/assets.go b/assets/assets.go
index f3f5de06948..51c3981c880 100644
--- a/assets/assets.go
+++ b/assets/assets.go
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 //go:generate git submodule update --init ./dir-index-html
 //go:generate go run github.com/go-bindata/go-bindata/go-bindata -pkg=assets init-doc dir-index-html/dir-index.html dir-index-html/knownIcons.txt
 //go:generate gofmt -w bindata.go
+//go:generate sh -c "sed -i \"s/.*BindataVersionHash.*/BindataVersionHash=\\\"$(git hash-object bindata.go)\\\"/\" bindata_version_hash.go"
+//go:generate gofmt -w bindata_version_hash.go
 package assets
 
 import (
diff --git a/assets/bindata_version_hash.go b/assets/bindata_version_hash.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..de2ddfb5d45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/assets/bindata_version_hash.go
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+// File generated together with 'bindata.go' when running `go generate .` DO NOT EDIT. (@generated)
+package assets
+
+const (
+	BindataVersionHash = "c1aa0601ac3eac2c50b296cf618a6747eeba8579"
+)
diff --git a/core/corehttp/gateway_handler.go b/core/corehttp/gateway_handler.go
index ba264c095c3..a1549efddb6 100644
--- a/core/corehttp/gateway_handler.go
+++ b/core/corehttp/gateway_handler.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/gabriel-vasile/mimetype"
 	"github.com/ipfs/go-cid"
 	files "github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs-files"
+	assets "github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/assets"
 	dag "github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag"
 	mfs "github.com/ipfs/go-mfs"
 	path "github.com/ipfs/go-path"
@@ -222,16 +223,26 @@ func (i *gatewayHandler) getOrHeadHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request
 
 	defer dr.Close()
 
-	// Check etag send back to us
-	etag := "\"" + resolvedPath.Cid().String() + "\""
-	if r.Header.Get("If-None-Match") == etag || r.Header.Get("If-None-Match") == "W/"+etag {
+	var responseEtag string
+
+	// we need to figure out whether this is a directory before doing most of the heavy lifting below
+	_, ok := dr.(files.Directory)
+
+	if ok && assets.BindataVersionHash != "" {
+		responseEtag = `"DirIndex-` + assets.BindataVersionHash + `_CID-` + resolvedPath.Cid().String() + `"`
+	} else {
+		responseEtag = `"` + resolvedPath.Cid().String() + `"`
+	}
+
+	// Check etag sent back to us
+	if r.Header.Get("If-None-Match") == responseEtag || r.Header.Get("If-None-Match") == `W/`+responseEtag {
 		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusNotModified)
 		return
 	}
 
 	i.addUserHeaders(w) // ok, _now_ write user's headers.
 	w.Header().Set("X-IPFS-Path", urlPath)
-	w.Header().Set("Etag", etag)
+	w.Header().Set("Etag", responseEtag)
 
 	// set these headers _after_ the error, for we may just not have it
 	// and don't want the client to cache a 500 response...