diff --git a/mx.fastr/mx_fastr.py b/mx.fastr/mx_fastr.py
index 83eb1a700ca15e6734de8e104773b7b971f0ca85..fbf291a74311d8fd357fc407ae12bf294d71a50f 100644
--- a/mx.fastr/mx_fastr.py
+++ b/mx.fastr/mx_fastr.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #
-# Copyright (c) 2013, 2017, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+# Copyright (c) 2013, 2018, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 # DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
 #
 # This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ import mx
 import mx_gate
 import mx_fastr_pkgs
 import mx_fastr_dists
-from mx_fastr_dists import FastRReleaseProject, FastRNativeRecommendedProject #pylint: disable=unused-import
+from mx_fastr_dists import FastRReleaseProject #pylint: disable=unused-import
 import mx_copylib
 import mx_fastr_edinclude
 import mx_unittest
@@ -530,6 +530,11 @@ def nativebuild(args):
 
 def mx_post_parse_cmd_line(opts):
     mx_fastr_dists.mx_post_parse_cmd_line(opts)
+    if _mx_sulong:
+        # native.recommended runs FastR, it already has a build dependency to the FASTR distribution
+        # if we are running with sulong we also need the SULONG distribution
+        rec = mx.project('com.oracle.truffle.r.native.recommended')
+        rec.buildDependencies += [mx.distribution('SULONG')]
 
 mx_unittest.add_config_participant(_unittest_config_participant)
 
diff --git a/mx.fastr/mx_fastr_dists.py b/mx.fastr/mx_fastr_dists.py
index 3007325ccd2e20101083954147db8afdbe5567e1..f97cd127b07c6734b970b88858d50f9b5e9af5ae 100644
--- a/mx.fastr/mx_fastr_dists.py
+++ b/mx.fastr/mx_fastr_dists.py
@@ -188,46 +188,13 @@ R_HOME_DIR="$( dirname "$r_bin" )"
         rscript_launcher = join(self.subject.dir, 'src', 'Rscript_launcher')
         self._template(rscript_launcher, join(bin_dir, 'Rscript'), template_dict)
 
-class FastRNativeRecommendedProject(mx.NativeProject):
-    '''
-    This finesses an ordering problem on installing the recommended R packages.
-    These must be installed by FastR using bin/R CMD INSTALL. That will invoke a
-    nested 'mx R' invocation which requires the FASTR distribution to be available.
-    However, this dependency cannot be specified in the suite.py file so we achieve
-    it here by ensuring that it is built prior to the native.recommended project.
-    '''
-    def __init__(self, suite, name, deps, workingSets, theLicense, **args):
-        mx.NativeProject.__init__(self, suite, name, None, [], deps, workingSets, None, None, join(suite.dir, name), theLicense)
-
-    def getBuildTask(self, args):
-        return NativeRecommendedBuildTask(self, args)
-
-class NativeRecommendedBuildTask(mx.NativeBuildTask):
-    def __init__(self, project, args):
-        mx.NativeBuildTask.__init__(self, args, project)
-
-    def build(self):
-        # must archive FASTR before build so that nested mx R CMD INSTALL can execute
-        mx.archive(['@FASTR'])
-        mx.NativeBuildTask.build(self)
-
 
 class FastRArchiveParticipant:
     def __init__(self, dist):
         self.dist = dist
 
     def __opened__(self, arc, srcArc, services):
-            # The release project states dependencies on the java projects in order
-            # to ensure they are built first. Therefore, the JarDistribution code
-            # will include all their class files at the top-level of the jar by default.
-            # Since we have already encapsulated the class files in 'fastr_jars/fastr.jar' we
-            # suppress their inclusion here by resetting the deps field. A bit of a hack.
-        if "FASTR_RELEASE" in self.dist.name:
-            assert isinstance(self.dist.deps[0], FastRReleaseProject)
-            self.release_project = self.dist.deps[0]
-            self.dist.deps[0].deps = []
-            if hasattr(self.dist, '.archived_deps'):
-                delattr(self.dist, '.archived_deps')
+        pass
 
     def __add__(self, arcname, contents):
         return False
@@ -236,11 +203,13 @@ class FastRArchiveParticipant:
         return False
 
     def __closing__(self):
-        if "FASTR_RELEASE" in self.dist.name and os.environ.has_key('FASTR_RELEASE'):
-            # the files copied  in can be confused as source files by
-            # e.g., mx copyright, so delete them, specifically thne
+        if "FASTR_RELEASE" in self.dist.name and 'FASTR_RELEASE' in os.environ:
+            assert isinstance(self.dist.deps[0], FastRReleaseProject)
+            release_project = self.dist.deps[0]
+            # the files copied in can be confused as source files by
+            # e.g., mx copyright, so delete them, specifically the
             # include dir
-            include_dir = join(self.release_project.dir, 'include')
+            include_dir = join(release_project.dir, 'include')
             shutil.rmtree(include_dir)
 
 def mx_post_parse_cmd_line(opts):
diff --git a/mx.fastr/suite.py b/mx.fastr/suite.py
index 2f7d0b61631ac27a0b43a220eca8887eeaec82cb..9a6fe39e9eb56437399c024047a455aae907cbcc 100644
--- a/mx.fastr/suite.py
+++ b/mx.fastr/suite.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 suite = {
-  "mxversion" : "5.60.0",
+  "mxversion" : "5.141.1",
   "name" : "fastr",
   "versionConflictResolution" : "latest",
   "imports" : {
@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ suite = {
 
     "com.oracle.truffle.r.release" : {
       "sourceDirs" : ["src"],
-      "dependencies" : ["com.oracle.truffle.r.native.recommended"],
+      "buildDependencies" : ["com.oracle.truffle.r.native.recommended"],
       "class" : "FastRReleaseProject",
       "output" : "com.oracle.truffle.r.release"
     },
@@ -308,9 +308,9 @@ suite = {
         "com.oracle.truffle.r.engine",
         "com.oracle.truffle.r.ffi.impl"
       ],
-      "class" : "FastRNativeRecommendedProject",
       "native" : True,
       "workingSets" : "FastR",
+      "buildDependencies" : ["FASTR"],
     },
 
     "com.oracle.truffle.r.test.tck" : {