diff --git a/test/tap/tap/Makefile b/test/tap/tap/Makefile
index ca7d27e72..6a20ead5c 100644
--- a/test/tap/tap/Makefile
+++ b/test/tap/tap/Makefile
@@ -118,6 +118,6 @@ clean:
 	find . -name '*.o' -delete || true
 	find . -name '*.so' -delete || true
 	find . -name '*.so.*' -delete || true
-	cd cpp-dotenv/static && rm -rf cpp-dotenv-*/ || true
-	cd cpp-dotenv/dynamic && rm -rf cpp-dotenv-*/ || true
+	# NOTE: cpp-dotenv source directories NOT cleaned here to preserve 213MB
+	# Build targets force full rebuild anyway if libs are missing