diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 597c429db..f2b855753 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -414,7 +414,6 @@ if(CMAKE_VERSION VERSION_GREATER "3.25")
         # Print specific properties for specific targets
         cmake_print_properties(
             TARGETS
-                to_c_array
                 stdlib_h
                 jsonnet_obj_static
                 jsonnet_obj_shared
diff --git a/stdlib/CMakeLists.txt b/stdlib/CMakeLists.txt
index 5481d638d..336f30d2c 100644
--- a/stdlib/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/stdlib/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,15 +1,13 @@
-add_executable(to_c_array EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL to_c_array.cpp)
-configure_target_cc_props(to_c_array)
-
 add_custom_command(
 	COMMENT "Packing std.jsonnet into std.jsonnet.h"
 	COMMAND
-		to_c_array
-			"${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/std.jsonnet"
-			"${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/std.jsonnet.h"
+		"${CMAKE_COMMAND}"
+			"-DINPUT_FILE=${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/std.jsonnet"
+			"-DOUTPUT_FILE=${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/std.jsonnet.h"
+			-P "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/pack_std_jsonnet.cmake"
 	OUTPUT "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/std.jsonnet.h"
 	MAIN_DEPENDENCY std.jsonnet
-	DEPENDS to_c_array)
+	DEPENDS pack_std_jsonnet.cmake)
 
 add_library(stdlib_h INTERFACE "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/std.jsonnet.h")
 target_include_directories(stdlib_h INTERFACE "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}")
diff --git a/stdlib/pack_std_jsonnet.cmake b/stdlib/pack_std_jsonnet.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8383a3b8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stdlib/pack_std_jsonnet.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# Usage: cmake -DINPUT_FILE=<in> -DOUTPUT_FILE=<out> -P pack_std_jsonnet.cmake
+#
+# Writes the bytes of INPUT_FILE to OUTPUT_FILE as a comma-separated list of
+# hex literals followed by a terminating 0, for use inside a C array
+# initializer.
+file(READ "${INPUT_FILE}" std_hex HEX)
+string(REGEX REPLACE "([0-9a-f][0-9a-f])" "0x\\1," std_bytes "${std_hex}")
+file(WRITE "${OUTPUT_FILE}" "${std_bytes}0")