diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-svn.yaml b/.github/workflows/build-svn.yaml
index 7437ac6cd25..ab836220e84 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-svn.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-svn.yaml
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ jobs:
       run: |
         brew install $(brew deps --include-build r) texinfo wget
         echo "::set-env name=PATH::$PATH:/Library/TeX/texbin:/usr/local/opt/texinfo/bin"
+        echo "::set-env name=dummy::$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.github/workflows/dummy"
 
     - name: Checkout
       uses: actions/checkout@v2
@@ -78,14 +79,18 @@ jobs:
 
     - name: Configure
       run: ./configure --disable-java --without-cairo --without-tcltk --without-x --with-aqua --with-lapack --enable-R-shlib --with-blas="-L/usr/local/opt/openblas/lib -lopenblas" SED=/usr/bin/sed
+      env:
+        PDFLATEX: ${{ env.dummy }}
 
     - name: Build
       run: make
+      env:
+        PDFLATEX: ${{ env.dummy }}
 
     - name: Check
-      run: |
-        sed -i.bak 's/reg-packages.R//g' tests/Makefile.common
-        make check-all
+      run: make check-all
+      env:
+        PDFLATEX: ${{ env.dummy }}
 
     - name: Print failed tests
       if: failure()
diff --git a/.github/workflows/dummy b/.github/workflows/dummy
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..808f0e218b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/dummy
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+v=$(echo "$@" | grep -o '[^ ]*\.tex')
+if [ -z "$v" ]; then
+echo "Failed to parse tex file from: pdflatex $@"
+exit 1
+fi
+file="${v::${#v}-4}"
+echo "Generating fake ${file}.pdf from ${file}.tex"
+echo "dummy pdf" > "${file}.pdf"
+echo "dummy log" > "${file}.log"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/rtools40-build.sh b/.github/workflows/rtools40-build.sh
index a1505dc7b19..20dc82ccbad 100755
--- a/.github/workflows/rtools40-build.sh
+++ b/.github/workflows/rtools40-build.sh
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ TEXINDEX=$(cygpath -m $(which texindex))
 cd "src/gnuwin32"
 sed -e "s|@win@|${WIN}|" -e "s|@texindex@|${TEXINDEX}|" -e "s|@home32@||" "${srcdir}/MkRules.local.in" > MkRules.local
 cat MkRules.local
-make all cairodevices recommended
+make all cairodevices recommended vignettes manuals
 
 # Optional: run checks
 make check-all