diff --git a/.github/workflows/binaries.yml b/.github/workflows/binaries.yml
index 3d1298dc0..659b711d0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/binaries.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/binaries.yml
@@ -60,8 +60,8 @@ jobs:
           nim-version: 'stable'
           yes: true
 
-      - name: Install checksums
-        run: nimble install -y checksums
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: nimble install -y
 
       - name: build nimble
         run: |
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index 8df5c7934..19ba78047 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -28,8 +28,8 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install Mercurial on macOS
         if: matrix.os == 'macos-latest'
         run: brew install mercurial
-      - name: Install checksums
-        run: nimble install checksums
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: nimble install -y
       - name: Run nim c -r tester
         run: |
           cd tests
@@ -37,3 +37,8 @@ jobs:
           # there's no need to add nimblepkg unit tests --
           # they are run by tmoduletests.nim
       - run: ./src/nimble install -y
+      - name: Build nimble with `-d:nimNimbleBootstrap`
+        run: |
+          nim c -d:release -r tests/private/clone.nim
+          nim c -d:nimNimbleBootstrap -d:release src/nimble.nim
+
diff --git a/tests/private/clone.nim b/tests/private/clone.nim
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a4716fad9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/private/clone.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+import std/[os, uri, strformat]
+import std/private/gitutils
+
+when defined(nimPreviewSlimSystem):
+  import std/assertions
+
+proc exec(cmd: string) =
+  echo "deps.cmd: " & cmd
+  let status = execShellCmd(cmd)
+  doAssert status == 0, cmd
+
+proc execRetry(cmd: string) =
+  let ok = retryCall(call = block:
+    let status = execShellCmd(cmd)
+    let result = status == 0
+    if not result:
+      echo fmt"failed command: '{cmd}', status: {status}"
+    result)
+  doAssert ok, cmd
+
+proc cloneDependency(destDirBase: string, url: string, commit = commitHead,
+                      appendRepoName = true) =
+  let destDirBase = destDirBase.absolutePath
+  let p = url.parseUri.path
+  let name = p.splitFile.name
+  var destDir = destDirBase
+  if appendRepoName: destDir = destDir / name
+  let quotedDestDir = destDir.quoteShell
+  if not dirExists(destDir):
+    # note: old code used `destDir / .git` but that wouldn't prevent git clone
+    # from failing
+    execRetry fmt"git clone -q {url} {quotedDestDir}"
+  if isGitRepo(destDir):
+    let oldDir = getCurrentDir()
+    setCurrentDir(destDir)
+    try:
+      execRetry "git fetch -q"
+      exec fmt"git checkout -q {commit}"
+    finally:
+      setCurrentDir(oldDir)
+  else:
+    quit "FAILURE: " & destdir & " already exists but is not a git repo"
+
+proc command =
+  const distDir = "dist"
+  const commit = "3fa15df7d27ecef624ed932d60f63d6a8949618d"
+  cloneDependency(distDir, "https://github.com/nim-lang/checksums.git", commit)
+
+command()