diff --git a/mirgecom/mpi.py b/mirgecom/mpi.py
index b5fec3ad2..69865b8bd 100644
--- a/mirgecom/mpi.py
+++ b/mirgecom/mpi.py
@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 from typing import Callable, Any, Generator, TYPE_CHECKING
 
+import logging
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from mpi4py.MPI import Comm
 
@@ -181,6 +185,20 @@ def _check_isl_version() -> None:
              "a command such as 'conda install \"isl * imath32_*\"' .")
 
 
+def _check_mpi4py_version() -> None:
+    import mpi4py
+
+    if mpi4py.__version__ < "4":
+        from warnings import warn
+        warn(f"mpi4py version {mpi4py.__version__} does not support pkl5 "
+              "scatter. This may lead to errors when distributing large meshes. "
+              "Please upgrade to the git version of mpi4py.")
+
+    else:
+        logger.info(f"Using mpi4py version {mpi4py.__version__} with pkl5 "
+                     "scatter support.")
+
+
 def mpi_entry_point(func) -> Callable:
     """
     Return a decorator that designates a function as the "main" function for MPI.
@@ -222,6 +240,7 @@ def wrapped_func(*args, **kwargs) -> None:
         _check_gpu_oversubscription()
         _check_cache_dirs()
         _check_isl_version()
+        _check_mpi4py_version()
 
         func(*args, **kwargs)
 
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index aa8aed495..b9e58cdc2 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 islpy
-mpi4py
 numpy
 pytest
 pytest-cov
@@ -9,6 +8,8 @@ psutil
 pyyaml
 git+https://github.com/pythological/kanren.git#egg=miniKanren
 
+git+https://github.com/mpi4py/mpi4py#egg=mpi4py
+
 # The following packages will be git cloned by emirge:
 --editable git+https://github.com/inducer/pymbolic.git#egg=pymbolic
 #--editable git+https://github.com/inducer/pyopencl.git#egg=pyopencl