diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yaml b/.github/workflows/build.yaml
index 1168f3f2..6c0f7555 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yaml
@@ -65,9 +65,9 @@ jobs:
           sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:project-machine/squashfuse
           sudo apt-get update
           sudo apt-get install -yy lxc-utils lxc-dev libacl1-dev jq libcap-dev libseccomp-dev libpam-dev bats parallel libzstd-dev
-          GO111MODULE=off go get github.com/opencontainers/umoci/cmd/umoci
-          curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/golangci/golangci-lint/master/install.sh | sh -s -- -b $(go env GOPATH)/bin
           sudo apt-get install -yy autoconf automake make autogen autoconf libtool binutils git squashfs-tools libcryptsetup-dev libdevmapper-dev cryptsetup-bin squashfuse
+          GO111MODULE=off go get github.com/opencontainers/umoci/cmd/umoci
+          make download-tools
           echo "running kernel is: $(uname -a)"
       - name: Go-download
         run: |
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index f380af57..2c89f7fd 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 /stacker-dynamic
 .build
 
+hack/
+
 # IDEs
 .vscode
 .idea
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 35fbbf9e..926ebb13 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -24,14 +24,18 @@ STACKER_BUILD_UBUNTU_IMAGE?=$(STACKER_DOCKER_BASE)ubuntu:latest
 LXC_CLONE_URL?=https://github.com/lxc/lxc
 LXC_BRANCH?=stable-5.0
 
+HACK_D := $(TOP_LEVEL)/hack
 # helper tools
-TOOLSDIR := $(shell pwd)/hack/tools
-REGCLIENT := $(TOOLSDIR)/bin/regctl
+TOOLS_D := $(HACK_D)/tools
+REGCLIENT := $(TOOLS_D)/bin/regctl
 REGCLIENT_VERSION := v0.5.1
 # OCI registry
-ZOT := $(TOOLSDIR)/bin/zot
+ZOT := $(TOOLS_D)/bin/zot
 ZOT_VERSION := 2.0.0-rc6
 
+GOLANGCI_LINT_VERSION = v1.54.2
+GOLANGCI_LINT = $(TOOLS_D)/golangci-lint/$(GOLANGCI_LINT_VERSION)/golangci-lint
+
 STAGE1_STACKER ?= ./stacker-dynamic
 
 STACKER_DEPS = $(GO_SRC) go.mod go.sum
@@ -61,22 +65,36 @@ go-download:
 	go mod download
 
 .PHONY: lint
-lint: cmd/stacker/lxc-wrapper/lxc-wrapper $(GO_SRC)
+lint: $(GO_SRC) $(GOLANGCI_LINT)
 	go mod tidy
 	go fmt ./... && ([ -z $(CI) ] || git diff --exit-code)
 	bash test/static-analysis.sh
-	go test -v -trimpath -cover -coverpkg stackerbuild.io/stacker/./... -coverprofile=coverage.txt -covermode=atomic -tags "$(BUILD_TAGS)" stackerbuild.io/stacker/./...
-	$(shell go env GOPATH)/bin/golangci-lint run --build-tags "$(BUILD_TAGS)"
+	$(GOLANGCI_LINT) run --build-tags "$(BUILD_TAGS) skipembed"
+
+.PHONY: go-test
+go-test:
+	go test -v -trimpath -cover -coverprofile=$(HACK_D)/coverage.txt -covermode=atomic -tags "exclude_graphdriver_btrfs exclude_graphdriver_devicemapper containers_image_openpgp osusergo netgo skipembed"  ./...
+	go tool cover -html $(HACK_D)/coverage.txt  -o $(HACK_D)/coverage.html
+
+.PHONY: download-tools
+download-tools: $(GOLANGCI_LINT) $(REGCLIENT) $(ZOT)
+
+$(GOLANGCI_LINT):
+	@mkdir -p $(dir $@)
+	curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/golangci/golangci-lint/master/install.sh | sh -s -- -b "$(dir $@)"
+	@mkdir -p "$(TOOLS_D)/bin"
+	ln -sf "$@" "$(TOOLS_D)/bin/"
+
+# dlbin is used with $(call dlbin,path,url)
+# it downloads a url to path and makes it executable.
+# it creates dest dir and atomically moves into place. t gets <name>.pid
+dlbin = set -x; mkdir -p $(dir $1) && t=$1.$$$$ && curl -Lo "$$t" "$2" && chmod +x "$$t" && mv "$$t" "$1"
 
 $(REGCLIENT):
-	mkdir -p $(TOOLSDIR)/bin
-	curl -Lo $(REGCLIENT) https://github.com/regclient/regclient/releases/download/$(REGCLIENT_VERSION)/regctl-linux-amd64
-	chmod +x $(REGCLIENT)
+	$(call dlbin,$@,https://github.com/regclient/regclient/releases/download/$(REGCLIENT_VERSION)/regctl-linux-amd64)
 
 $(ZOT):
-	mkdir -p $(TOOLSDIR)/bin
-	curl -Lo $(ZOT) https://github.com/project-zot/zot/releases/download/v$(ZOT_VERSION)/zot-linux-amd64-minimal
-	chmod +x $(ZOT)
+	$(call dlbin,$@,https://github.com/regclient/regclient/releases/download/$(REGCLIENT_VERSION)/regctl-linux-amd64)
 
 TEST?=$(patsubst test/%.bats,%,$(wildcard test/*.bats))
 PRIVILEGE_LEVEL?=
@@ -84,7 +102,7 @@ PRIVILEGE_LEVEL?=
 # make check TEST=basic will run only the basic test
 # make check PRIVILEGE_LEVEL=unpriv will run only unprivileged tests
 .PHONY: check
-check: lint test
+check: lint test go-test
 
 .PHONY: test
 test: stacker $(REGCLIENT) $(ZOT)
diff --git a/cmd/stacker/main.go b/cmd/stacker/main.go
index ae4bf4b5..5ab577a0 100644
--- a/cmd/stacker/main.go
+++ b/cmd/stacker/main.go
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package main
 
 import (
-	"embed"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
@@ -28,9 +27,6 @@ var (
 	lxc_version = ""
 )
 
-//go:embed lxc-wrapper/lxc-wrapper
-var embeddedFS embed.FS
-
 func shouldShowProgress(ctx *cli.Context) bool {
 	/* if the user provided explicit recommendations, follow those */
 	if ctx.Bool("no-progress") {
@@ -84,6 +80,9 @@ func shouldSkipInternalUserns(ctx *cli.Context) bool {
 }
 
 func main() {
+	if !hasEmbedded {
+		panic("stacker was built without embedded binaries.")
+	}
 	sigquits := make(chan os.Signal, 1)
 	go func() {
 		for range sigquits {
diff --git a/cmd/stacker/main_embed.go b/cmd/stacker/main_embed.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8108c423
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/stacker/main_embed.go
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+//go:build !skipembed
+
+package main
+
+import "embed"
+
+//go:embed lxc-wrapper/lxc-wrapper
+var embeddedFS embed.FS
+
+const hasEmbedded = true
diff --git a/cmd/stacker/main_noembed.go b/cmd/stacker/main_noembed.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2790c3ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/stacker/main_noembed.go
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+//go:build skipembed
+
+package main
+
+import "embed"
+
+var embeddedFS embed.FS
+
+const hasEmbedded = true