diff --git a/xC-gen-proto-c.awk b/xC-gen-proto-c.awk
index e7faef0..2810c96 100644
--- a/xC-gen-proto-c.awk
+++ b/xC-gen-proto-c.awk
@@ -110,11 +110,11 @@ function codegen_enum(name, cg,    ctype) {
 
 	# XXX: This should also check if it isn't out-of-range for any reason,
 	# but our usage of sprintf() stands in the way a bit.
-	CodegenSerialize[name] = "\tstr_pack_i32(w, %s);\n"
+	CodegenSerialize[name] = "\tstr_pack_i8(w, %s);\n"
 	CodegenDeserialize[name] = \
 		"\t{\n" \
-		"\t\tint32_t v = 0;\n" \
-		"\t\tif (!msg_unpacker_i32(r, &v) || !v)\n" \
+		"\t\tint8_t v = 0;\n" \
+		"\t\tif (!msg_unpacker_i8(r, &v) || !v)\n" \
 		"\t\t\treturn false;\n" \
 		"\t\t%s = v;\n" \
 		"\t}\n"
diff --git a/xC-gen-proto-go.awk b/xC-gen-proto-go.awk
index 1a64eb8..4220ccc 100644
--- a/xC-gen-proto-go.awk
+++ b/xC-gen-proto-go.awk
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ function codegen_begin() {
 	print "\tvar n int64"
 	print "\tif err := json.Unmarshal(data, &n); err != nil {"
 	print "\t\treturn 0, err"
-	print "\t} else if n > math.MaxInt32 || n < math.MinInt32 {"
+	print "\t} else if n > math.MaxInt8 || n < math.MinInt8 {"
 	print "\t\treturn 0, errors.New(`integer out of range`)"
 	print "\t} else {"
 	print "\t\treturn n, nil"
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ function codegen_enum_value(name, subname, value, cg,    goname) {
 
 function codegen_enum(name, cg,    gotype, fields) {
 	gotype = PrefixCamel name
-	print "type " gotype " int"
+	print "type " gotype " int8"
 	print ""
 
 	print "const ("
@@ -239,12 +239,10 @@ function codegen_enum(name, cg,    gotype, fields) {
 
 	# XXX: This should also check if it isn't out-of-range for any reason,
 	# but our usage of sprintf() stands in the way a bit.
-	CodegenSerialize[name] = \
-		"\tdata = binary.BigEndian.AppendUint32(data, uint32(%s))\n"
+	CodegenSerialize[name] = "\tdata = append(data, uint8(%s))\n"
 	CodegenDeserialize[name] = \
-		"\tif len(data) >= 4 {\n" \
-		"\t\t%s = " gotype "(int32(binary.BigEndian.Uint32(data)))\n" \
-		"\t\tdata = data[4:]\n" \
+		"\tif len(data) >= 1 {\n" \
+		"\t\t%s, data = " gotype "(data[0]), data[1:]\n" \
 		"\t} else {\n" \
 		"\t\treturn nil, false\n" \
 		"\t}\n"
diff --git a/xC-gen-proto.awk b/xC-gen-proto.awk
index d5f19fb..de8e9b8 100644
--- a/xC-gen-proto.awk
+++ b/xC-gen-proto.awk
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 # Booleans are one byte each.
 # Strings must be valid UTF-8, use u8<> to lift that restriction.
 # String and array lengths are encoded as u32.
-# Enumeration values automatically start at 1, and are encoded as i32.
+# Enumeration values automatically start at 1, and are encoded as i8.
 # Any struct or union field may be a variable-length array.
 #
 # Message framing is done externally, but also happens to prefix u32 lengths.
@@ -189,6 +189,8 @@ function defenum(    name, ident, value, cg) {
 			value = readnumber()
 		if (!value)
 			fatal("enumeration values cannot be zero")
+		if (value < -128 || value > 127)
+			fatal("enumeration value out of range")
 		expect(accept(","))
 		append(EnumValues, name, SUBSEP ident)
 		if (EnumValues[name, ident]++)