diff --git a/.github/workflows/custom/after-install/action.yml b/.github/workflows/custom/after-install/action.yml
index f7590c909..17be7eb2d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/custom/after-install/action.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/custom/after-install/action.yml
@@ -15,6 +15,36 @@ runs:
         max-size: 200M
         verbose: 1
 
+    - name: Setup tmate session
+      uses: mxschmitt/action-tmate@v3
+      with:
+        detached: true
+
+    - name: Download DuckDB binary
+      if: ${{ runner.os == 'Linux' }}
+      run: |
+        # FIXME: only for stable version, other code for dynamic version
+        # FIXME: dynamic detection of version number
+
+        tempdir <- "${{ runner.temp }}"
+        zipfile <- file.path(tempdir, "libduckdb-linux-amd64.zip")
+        bindir <- file.path(tempdir, "libduckdb-linux-amd64")
+
+        curl::curl_download("https://github.com/duckdb/duckdb/releases/download/v0.8.1/libduckdb-linux-amd64.zip", zipfile)
+
+        unzip(zipfile, exdir = bindir)
+
+        writeLines(
+          paste0("DUCKDB_BINARY_PATH=", bindir),
+          Sys.getenv("GITHUB_ENV")
+        )
+      shell: Rscript {0}
+
+    - name: Show DUCKDB_BINARY_PATH
+      run: |
+        echo $DUCKDB_BINARY_PATH
+      shell: bash
+
     - name: Install to avoid R CMD INSTALL --pre-clean run otherwise
       run: |
         mkdir ../lib
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 2d00e6308..86f5be4c0 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -22,8 +22,9 @@ cd $(dirname $0)/src
 # This logic is identical for Windows or non-Windows builds,
 # only that we need to-tar-win.mk instead of to-tar.mk on Windows.
 
-if [ -f "${DUCKDB_R_PREBUILT_ARCHIVE}" ] && tar -xm -f ${DUCKDB_R_PREBUILT_ARCHIVE}; then
+if [ -d "${DUCKDB_BINARY_PATH}" ] && [ -z "$(diff ${DUCKDB_BINARY_PATH}/duckdb.h duckdb/src/include/duckdb.h)" ]; then
   cp include/from-tar.mk Makevars.duckdb
 else
+  false
   cp include/to-tar.mk Makevars.duckdb
 fi
diff --git a/src/Makevars b/src/Makevars
index bcfd6224e..449d942fe 100644
--- a/src/Makevars
+++ b/src/Makevars
@@ -4,9 +4,7 @@
 #
 # The symbols.rds file helps troubleshoot issues with forbidden symbols
 # such as abort.
-all: duckdb.tar symbols.rds $(SHLIB)
-
-include include/sources.mk
+all: symbols.rds $(SHLIB)
 
 # This file is created by the configure or configure.win scripts
 # depending on the value of the DUCKDB_R_PREBUILT_ARCHIVE environment variable.
@@ -15,3 +13,4 @@ include Makevars.duckdb
 CXX_STD = CXX17
 PKG_CPPFLAGS = -Iinclude -I../inst/include -DDUCKDB_DISABLE_PRINT -DDUCKDB_R_BUILD -Iduckdb/src/include -Iduckdb/third_party/fmt/include -Iduckdb/third_party/fsst -Iduckdb/third_party/re2 -Iduckdb/third_party/miniz -Iduckdb/third_party/utf8proc/include -Iduckdb/third_party/utf8proc -Iduckdb/third_party/hyperloglog -Iduckdb/third_party/fastpforlib -Iduckdb/third_party/tdigest -Iduckdb/third_party/libpg_query/include -Iduckdb/third_party/libpg_query -Iduckdb/third_party/concurrentqueue -Iduckdb/third_party/pcg -Iduckdb/third_party/httplib -Iduckdb/third_party/fast_float -Iduckdb/third_party/mbedtls -Iduckdb/third_party/mbedtls/include -Iduckdb/third_party/mbedtls/library -Iduckdb/third_party/jaro_winkler -Iduckdb/third_party/jaro_winkler/details -Iduckdb/extension/parquet/include -Iduckdb/third_party/parquet -Iduckdb/third_party/snappy -Iduckdb/third_party/thrift -Iduckdb/third_party/zstd/include -I../inst/include -Iduckdb -DBUILD_PARQUET_EXTENSION -DDUCKDB_BUILD_LIBRARY
 OBJECTS=database.o connection.o statement.o register.o relational.o scan.o transform.o utils.o reltoaltrep.o types.o cpp11.o $(SOURCES)
+PKG_LIBS=$(PKG_LIBS_BINARY)
diff --git a/src/Makevars.in b/src/Makevars.in
index 8c0b5e534..d201dcc44 100644
--- a/src/Makevars.in
+++ b/src/Makevars.in
@@ -4,9 +4,7 @@
 #
 # The symbols.rds file helps troubleshoot issues with forbidden symbols
 # such as abort.
-all: duckdb.tar symbols.rds $(SHLIB)
-
-include include/sources.mk
+all: symbols.rds $(SHLIB)
 
 # This file is created by the configure or configure.win scripts
 # depending on the value of the DUCKDB_R_PREBUILT_ARCHIVE environment variable.
diff --git a/src/include/from-tar.mk b/src/include/from-tar.mk
index 6f5ee12e3..2a1ed57a5 100644
--- a/src/include/from-tar.mk
+++ b/src/include/from-tar.mk
@@ -1,8 +1 @@
-# This file is used from Makevars if $DUCKDB_R_PREBUILT_ARCHIVE points
-# to an existing file.
-# We print details on the object files already extracted in the configure script
-# for diagnostic purposes.
-duckdb.tar: $(DUCKDB_R_PREBUILT_ARCHIVE)
-	ls -lR
-	# Ensure the file is recreated in the next run
-	rm -f Makevars.duckdb
+PKG_LIBS_BINARY=-L"$(DUCKDB_BINARY_PATH)" -Wl,-rpath,"$(DUCKDB_BINARY_PATH)" -lduckdb
diff --git a/src/include/to-tar.mk b/src/include/to-tar.mk
index 67a941833..79322e11e 100644
--- a/src/include/to-tar.mk
+++ b/src/include/to-tar.mk
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+include include/sources.mk
+
 # This file is used from Makevars if $DUCKDB_R_PREBUILT_ARCHIVE is empty
 # or does not point to an existing file.
 # In the latter case, we create the file after the object files have been built.