diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 3debfd523..f09305273 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -86,11 +86,6 @@ if(RDK_PGSQL_STATIC AND RDK_BUILD_PGSQL)
   endif(NOT RDK_INSTALL_STATIC_LIBS)
 endif()
 
-if(RDK_USE_URF)
-  ADD_DEFINITIONS("-DRDK_USE_URF")
-  include_directories(${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/include)
-  link_directories(${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/lib)
-endif()
 
 include(TestBigEndian)
 TEST_BIG_ENDIAN(RDK_BIG_ENDIAN)
@@ -170,6 +165,10 @@ if(RDK_BUILD_COORDGEN_SUPPORT)
     include_directories(${RDKit_ExternalDir})
 endif()
 
+if(RDK_USE_URF)
+  ADD_DEFINITIONS("-DRDK_USE_URF")
+  include_directories(${RDKit_ExternalDir}/RingFamilies/RingDecomposerLib/src/RingDecomposerLib)
+endif()
 
 
 if(CMAKE_SIZEOF_VOID_P MATCHES 4)
diff --git a/Code/GraphMol/CMakeLists.txt b/Code/GraphMol/CMakeLists.txt
index 1c338ad23..23e5d13b4 100644
--- a/Code/GraphMol/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Code/GraphMol/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ rdkit_library(GraphMol
 target_link_libraries(GraphMol PUBLIC ${RDKit_THREAD_LIBS})
 
 if(RDK_USE_URF)
-  target_link_libraries(GraphMol PUBLIC URFLib)
+  target_link_libraries(GraphMol PUBLIC ${RDK_URF_LIBS})
 endif()
 
 rdkit_headers(Atom.h
diff --git a/Code/JavaWrappers/CMakeLists.txt b/Code/JavaWrappers/CMakeLists.txt
index 49157e7e4..7291c415e 100644
--- a/Code/JavaWrappers/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Code/JavaWrappers/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -31,13 +31,13 @@ set(swigRDKitLibList "${swigRDKitLibList}"
 #if(RDK_BUILD_COORDGEN_SUPPORT)
 #  set(swigRDKitLibList "${swigRDKitLibList};${RDK_COORDGEN_LIBS}")
 #endif(RDK_BUILD_COORDGEN_SUPPORT)
+if(RDK_USE_URF)
+  set(swigRDKitLibList "${swigRDKitLibList};${RDK_URF_LIBS};")
+endif(RDK_USE_URF)
 set(swigRDKitLibs "")
 foreach(swigRDKitLib ${swigRDKitLibList})
   set(swigRDKitLibs "${swigRDKitLibs}${swigRDKitLib}${swigRDKitLibSuffix};")
 endforeach()
-if(RDK_USE_URF)
-  set(swigRDKitLibs "${swigRDKitLibs};RingDecomposerLibStatic;")
-endif(RDK_USE_URF)
 set(swigRDKitLibs "${swigRDKitLibs}${Boost_SERIALIZATION_LIBRARY};")
 
 if(RDK_USE_BOOST_IOSTREAMS)
diff --git a/Code/PgSQL/rdkit/CMakeLists.txt b/Code/PgSQL/rdkit/CMakeLists.txt
index a0d58221b..ee78d4f7c 100644
--- a/Code/PgSQL/rdkit/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Code/PgSQL/rdkit/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -115,12 +115,12 @@ set(pgRDKitLibList "${pgRDKitLibList}"
     "FileParsers;SmilesParse;Fingerprints;Subgraphs;Descriptors;"
     "PartialCharges;SubstructMatch;GraphMol;EigenSolvers;DataStructs;Depictor;"
     "RDGeometryLib;RDGeneral")
+if(RDK_USE_URF)
+  set(pgRDKitLibList "${pgRDKitLibList};${RDK_URF_LIBS}")
+endif(RDK_USE_URF)
 foreach(pgRDKitLib ${pgRDKitLibList})
   set(pgRDKitLibs "${pgRDKitLibs}${pgRDKitLib}${pgRDKitLibSuffix};")
 endforeach()
-if(RDK_USE_URF)
-  set(pgRDKitLibs "${pgRDKitLibs};RingDecomposerLibStatic")
-endif(RDK_USE_URF)
 target_link_libraries(${EXTENSION}${EXTENSION_SUFFIX} ${pgRDKitLibs})
 if(RDK_BUILD_THREADSAFE_SSS)
   target_link_libraries(${EXTENSION}${EXTENSION_SUFFIX} ${RDKit_THREAD_LIBS})
diff --git a/External/RingFamilies/CMakeLists.txt b/External/RingFamilies/CMakeLists.txt
index 71ff7bc4d..4b1436f34 100644
--- a/External/RingFamilies/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/External/RingFamilies/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,20 +1,35 @@
+add_custom_target(ringdecomposerlib_support ALL)
+
 if(RDK_USE_URF)
 
-include(ExternalProject)
+if(NOT DEFINED URFLIB_DIR)
+    set(URFLIB_DIR "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/RingDecomposerLib/src/RingDecomposerLib")
+endif()
 
-ExternalProject_Add(RingDecomposerLib_project
-    GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/rareylab/RingDecomposerLib.git
-    GIT_TAG v1.1.3_rdkit
-    PATCH_COMMAND ""
-    PREFIX ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}
-    SOURCE_DIR "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/RingDecomposerLib"
-    CMAKE_ARGS -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}
-    TEST_COMMAND "")
+if(NOT EXISTS "${URFLIB_DIR}/RingDecomposerLib.h")
+    set(RELEASE_NO "1.1.3_rdkit")
+    set(MD5 "e9a0bcdda8b921a35e812b9888a9a874")
+    downloadAndCheckMD5("https://github.com/rareylab/RingDecomposerLib/archive/v${RELEASE_NO}.tar.gz"
+            "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/RingDecomposerLib-v${RELEASE_NO}.tar.gz" ${MD5})
+    execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E tar zxf
+        ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/RingDecomposerLib-v${RELEASE_NO}.tar.gz
+        WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
+    file(RENAME "RingDecomposerLib-${RELEASE_NO}" "RingDecomposerLib")
+else()
+    message("-- Found RingDecomposerLib source in ${URFLIB_DIR}")
+endif()
 
-set(RDK_URF_LIBS RingDecomposerLibStatic
-    CACHE STRING "the external libraries" FORCE)
+set(urflib_INCLUDE_DIRS ${URFLIB_DIR}
+    CACHE STRING "RingDecomposerLib Include Dir" FORCE)
+file(GLOB URFSOURCES "${URFLIB_DIR}/*.c")
 
-rdkit_library(URFLib URF.cpp SHARED LINK_LIBRARIES ${RDK_URF_LIBS} )
-add_dependencies(URFLib RingDecomposerLib_project)
+rdkit_library(RingDecomposerLib ${URFSOURCES} SHARED)
+install(TARGETS RingDecomposerLib DESTINATION ${RDKit_LibDir})
+rdkit_headers(${URFLIB_DIR}/RingDecomposerLib.h DEST "")
+
+
+rdkit_library(URFLib URF.cpp SHARED LINK_LIBRARIES RingDecomposerLib )
+set(RDK_URF_LIBS URFLib RingDecomposerLib
+    CACHE STRING "the libraries for the URF calculation" FORCE)
 
 endif(RDK_USE_URF)