diff --git a/builder/build.sh b/builder/build.sh
index e34276b..9ae6ace 100755
--- a/builder/build.sh
+++ b/builder/build.sh
@@ -124,6 +124,9 @@ compile_r() {
       if [[ "${OS_IDENTIFIER}" = "ubuntu-1804" ]]; then
           default_configure_options="$default_configure_options \
             CC=gcc-8 CXX=g++-8 FC=gfortran-8"
+          gcc_package=gcc-8
+          gxx_package=g++-8
+          gfortran_package=gfortran-8
       fi
   fi
 
@@ -172,6 +175,7 @@ EOF
 package_r() {
   if [[ -f /package.sh ]]; then
     export R_VERSION=${1}
+    export gcc_package gxx_package gfortran_package
     source /package.sh
   fi
 }
diff --git a/builder/package.ubuntu-1804 b/builder/package.ubuntu-1804
index 56d4317..f49efaf 100644
--- a/builder/package.ubuntu-1804
+++ b/builder/package.ubuntu-1804
@@ -27,9 +27,9 @@ deb:
   fields:
     Bugs: https://github.com/rstudio/r-builds/issues
 depends:
-- g++-8
-- gcc-8
-- gfortran-8
+- ${gxx_package-g++}
+- ${gcc_package-gcc}
+- ${gfortran_package-gfortran}
 - libbz2-dev
 - libc6
 - libcairo2
diff --git a/test/test-r.sh b/test/test-r.sh
index 8783716..bd376dd 100755
--- a/test/test-r.sh
+++ b/test/test-r.sh
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ R_HOME=/opt/R/${R_VERSION}/lib/R
 "${R_HOME}/bin/Rscript" -e 'sessionInfo()'
 
 # List R devel dependencies
-gcc --version
-g++ --version
-gfortran --version
+$("${R_HOME}/bin/R" CMD config CC)  --version
+$("${R_HOME}/bin/R" CMD config CXX) --version
+$("${R_HOME}/bin/R" CMD config FC)  --version
 
 # List shared library dependencies (e.g. BLAS/LAPACK)
 LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:${R_HOME}/lib ldd "${R_HOME}/lib/libR.so"