diff --git a/com.oracle.truffle.r.native/gnur/Makefile.gnur b/com.oracle.truffle.r.native/gnur/Makefile.gnur
index 4b9f8580e4a38070be7ed61503dd8c306926ca90..4fc3a0637aacde167426df90e62bc8166051a310 100644
--- a/com.oracle.truffle.r.native/gnur/Makefile.gnur
+++ b/com.oracle.truffle.r.native/gnur/Makefile.gnur
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ all: Makefile $(GNUR_HOME) iconv config build
 
 $(GNUR_HOME): 
 	tar xf $(TOPDIR)/../libdownloads/R-$(R_VERSION).tar.gz
+	ed $(GNUR_HOME)/configure < edconfigure # to fix the zlib version check (fixed in GNUR in the meantime)
 
 
 # After this platform check, GNUR_CONFIG_FLAGS must be set
diff --git a/com.oracle.truffle.r.native/gnur/edconfigure b/com.oracle.truffle.r.native/gnur/edconfigure
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..ba5c8bbaf62383c3576331b6e809a59fff4e195e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/com.oracle.truffle.r.native/gnur/edconfigure
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+35510,35513c
+#ifdef ZLIB_VERNUM
+  if (ZLIB_VERNUM < 0x1250) {
+    exit(1);
+  }
+  exit(0);
+.
+w
+q