--- a/ext/testbm.cmake
+++ b/ext/testbm.cmake
@@ -1,4 +1,2 @@
 # these are used both for testing and benchmarking
-c4_require_subproject(c4fs REMOTE
-    GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/biojppm/c4fs
-    GIT_TAG master)
+c4_require_subproject(c4fs SUBDIRECTORY ext/c4fs)
--- a/test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -155,10 +155,6 @@
 
-    c4_require_subproject(c4log REMOTE
-        GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/biojppm/c4log
-        GIT_TAG master)
+    c4_require_subproject(c4log SUBDIRECTORY ../ext/c4log)
 
     set(tsdir ${ed}/yaml-test-suite)
-    c4_download_remote_proj(yaml-test-suite suite_dir
-        GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/yaml/yaml-test-suite
-        GIT_TAG data-2022-01-17)
+    set(suite_dir ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/ext/yaml-test-suite)
     if(NOT EXISTS ${suite_dir}/229Q)