diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 9acb97d2..a16c1220 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ endif()
 # LAYER 1: Crypto core
 # --------------------
 apidsl(toxcore/crypto_core.api.h)
-add_submodule(toxcore toxcrypto
+set(toxcore_SOURCES ${toxcore_SOURCES}
   toxcore/ccompat.h
   toxcore/crypto_core.c
   toxcore/crypto_core.h
@@ -219,34 +219,33 @@ add_submodule(toxcore toxcrypto
 include(CheckFunctionExists)
 check_function_exists(explicit_bzero HAVE_EXPLICIT_BZERO)
 check_function_exists(memset_s HAVE_MEMSET_S)
-target_link_modules(toxcrypto ${LIBSODIUM_LIBRARIES})
-set(toxcrypto_PKGCONFIG_REQUIRES ${toxcrypto_PKGCONFIG_REQUIRES} libsodium)
+set(toxcore_LINK_MODULES ${toxcore_LINK_MODULES} ${LIBSODIUM_LIBRARIES})
+set(toxcore_PKGCONFIG_LIBS ${toxcore_PKGCONFIG_LIBS} libsodium)
 
 # LAYER 2: Basic networking
 # -------------------------
-add_submodule(toxcore toxnetwork
+set(toxcore_SOURCES ${toxcore_SOURCES}
   toxcore/logger.c
   toxcore/logger.h
   toxcore/network.c
   toxcore/network.h
   toxcore/util.c
   toxcore/util.h)
-target_link_modules(toxnetwork toxcrypto)
 
 message("CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT: ${CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT}")
 if(CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT)
-  target_link_modules(toxnetwork ${CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT})
-  set(toxnetwork_PKGCONFIG_LIBS ${toxnetwork_PKGCONFIG_LIBS} ${CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT})
+  set(toxcore_LINK_MODULES ${toxcore_LINK_MODULES} ${CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT})
+  set(toxcore_PKGCONFIG_LIBS ${toxcore_PKGCONFIG_LIBS} ${CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT})
 endif()
 
 if(RT_LIBRARIES)
-  target_link_modules(toxnetwork ${RT_LIBRARIES})
-  set(toxnetwork_PKGCONFIG_LIBS ${toxnetwork_PKGCONFIG_LIBS} "-lrt")
+  set(toxcore_LINK_MODULES ${toxcore_LINK_MODULES} ${RT_LIBRARIES})
+  set(toxcore_PKGCONFIG_LIBS ${toxcore_PKGCONFIG_LIBS} "-lrt")
 endif()
 
 if(WIN32)
-  target_link_modules(toxnetwork ws2_32 iphlpapi)
-  set(toxnetwork_PKGCONFIG_LIBS ${toxnetwork_PKGCONFIG_LIBS} "-lws2_32 -liphlpapi")
+  set(toxcore_LINK_MODULES ${toxcore_LINK_MODULES} ws2_32 iphlpapi)
+  set(toxcore_PKGCONFIG_LIBS ${toxcore_PKGCONFIG_LIBS} "-lws2_32 -liphlpapi")
 endif()
 
 # LAYER 3: Distributed Hash Table
@@ -254,7 +253,7 @@ endif()
 apidsl(toxcore/LAN_discovery.api.h)
 apidsl(toxcore/ping.api.h)
 apidsl(toxcore/ping_array.api.h)
-add_submodule(toxcore toxdht
+set(toxcore_SOURCES ${toxcore_SOURCES}
   toxcore/DHT.c
   toxcore/DHT.h
   toxcore/LAN_discovery.c
@@ -263,11 +262,10 @@ add_submodule(toxcore toxdht
   toxcore/ping.h
   toxcore/ping_array.c
   toxcore/ping_array.h)
-target_link_modules(toxdht toxnetwork)
 
 # LAYER 4: Onion routing, TCP connections, crypto connections
 # -----------------------------------------------------------
-add_submodule(toxcore toxnetcrypto
+set(toxcore_SOURCES ${toxcore_SOURCES}
   toxcore/TCP_client.c
   toxcore/TCP_client.h
   toxcore/TCP_connection.c
@@ -284,40 +282,35 @@ add_submodule(toxcore toxnetcrypto
   toxcore/onion_announce.h
   toxcore/onion_client.c
   toxcore/onion_client.h)
-target_link_modules(toxnetcrypto toxdht)
 
 # LAYER 5: Friend requests and connections
 # ----------------------------------------
-add_submodule(toxcore toxfriends
+set(toxcore_SOURCES ${toxcore_SOURCES}
   toxcore/friend_connection.c
   toxcore/friend_connection.h
   toxcore/friend_requests.c
   toxcore/friend_requests.h)
-target_link_modules(toxfriends toxnetcrypto)
 
 # LAYER 6: Tox messenger
 # ----------------------
-add_submodule(toxcore toxmessenger
+set(toxcore_SOURCES ${toxcore_SOURCES}
   toxcore/Messenger.c
   toxcore/Messenger.h)
-target_link_modules(toxmessenger toxfriends)
 
 # LAYER 7: Group chats
 # --------------------
-add_submodule(toxcore toxgroup
+set(toxcore_SOURCES ${toxcore_SOURCES}
   toxcore/group.c
   toxcore/group.h)
-target_link_modules(toxgroup toxmessenger)
 
 # LAYER 8: Public API
 # -------------------
 apidsl(toxcore/tox.api.h)
-add_submodule(toxcore toxapi
+set(toxcore_SOURCES ${toxcore_SOURCES}
   toxcore/tox_api.c
   toxcore/tox.c
   toxcore/tox.h)
-target_link_modules(toxapi toxgroup)
-set(toxapi_API_HEADERS ${toxcore_SOURCE_DIR}/toxcore/tox.h^tox)
+set(toxcore_API_HEADERS ${toxcore_API_HEADERS} ${toxcore_SOURCE_DIR}/toxcore/tox.h^tox)
 
 ################################################################################
 #
@@ -327,7 +320,7 @@ set(toxapi_API_HEADERS ${toxcore_SOURCE_DIR}/toxcore/tox.h^tox)
 
 if(BUILD_TOXAV)
   apidsl(toxav/toxav.api.h)
-  add_submodule(toxcore toxav
+  set(toxcore_SOURCES ${toxcore_SOURCES}
     toxav/audio.c
     toxav/audio.h
     toxav/bwcontroller.c
@@ -345,11 +338,10 @@ if(BUILD_TOXAV)
     toxav/toxav_old.c
     toxav/video.c
     toxav/video.h)
-  target_link_modules(toxav toxgroup ${OPUS_LIBRARIES} ${VPX_LIBRARIES})
-  set(toxav_PKGCONFIG_REQUIRES ${toxav_PKGCONFIG_REQUIRES} opus vpx)
+  set(toxcore_LINK_MODULES ${toxcore_LINK_MODULES} ${OPUS_LIBRARIES} ${VPX_LIBRARIES})
+  set(toxcore_PKGCONFIG_REQUIRES ${toxcore_PKGCONFIG_REQUIRES} opus vpx)
 
-  set(toxav_API_HEADERS ${toxcore_SOURCE_DIR}/toxav/toxav.h^toxav)
-  make_version_script(toxav ${toxav_API_HEADERS})
+  set(toxcore_API_HEADERS ${toxcore_API_HEADERS} ${toxcore_SOURCE_DIR}/toxav/toxav.h^toxav)
 endif()
 
 ################################################################################
@@ -359,11 +351,10 @@ endif()
 ################################################################################
 
 apidsl(toxencryptsave/toxencryptsave.api.h)
-add_submodule(toxcore toxencryptsave
+set(toxcore_SOURCES ${toxcore_SOURCES}
   toxencryptsave/toxencryptsave.c
   toxencryptsave/toxencryptsave.h)
-target_link_modules(toxencryptsave toxcrypto)
-set(toxencryptsave_API_HEADERS ${toxcore_SOURCE_DIR}/toxencryptsave/toxencryptsave.h^tox)
+set(toxcore_API_HEADERS ${toxcore_API_HEADERS} ${toxcore_SOURCE_DIR}/toxencryptsave/toxencryptsave.h^tox)
 
 ################################################################################
 #
@@ -375,26 +366,8 @@ set(toxencryptsave_API_HEADERS ${toxcore_SOURCE_DIR}/toxencryptsave/toxencryptsa
 add_module(toxcore ${toxcore_SOURCES})
 
 # Link it to all dependencies.
-foreach(sublib ${toxcore_SUBLIBS})
-  set(toxcore_LINK_MODULES ${toxcore_LINK_MODULES} ${${sublib}_LINK_MODULES})
-endforeach()
 target_link_modules(toxcore ${toxcore_LINK_MODULES})
 
-# Concatenate all the pkg-config Libs: lines.
-foreach(sublib ${toxcore_SUBLIBS})
-  set(toxcore_PKGCONFIG_LIBS ${toxcore_PKGCONFIG_LIBS} ${${sublib}_PKGCONFIG_LIBS})
-endforeach()
-
-# Concatenate all the pkg-config Requires: lines.
-foreach(sublib ${toxcore_SUBLIBS})
-  set(toxcore_PKGCONFIG_REQUIRES ${toxcore_PKGCONFIG_REQUIRES} ${${sublib}_PKGCONFIG_REQUIRES})
-endforeach()
-
-# Collect all API headers.
-foreach(sublib ${toxcore_SUBLIBS})
-  set(toxcore_API_HEADERS ${toxcore_API_HEADERS} ${${sublib}_API_HEADERS})
-endforeach()
-
 # Make version script (on systems that support it) to limit symbol visibility.
 make_version_script(toxcore ${toxcore_API_HEADERS})
 
@@ -402,44 +375,6 @@ make_version_script(toxcore ${toxcore_API_HEADERS})
 # "${CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR}/tox".
 install_module(toxcore DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR}/tox)
 
-################################################################################
-#
-# :: Tox specification tests
-#
-################################################################################
-
-# find_program(SPECTEST NAMES
-#   tox-spectest
-#   ../.stack-work/install/x86_64-linux/lts-2.22/7.8.4/bin/tox-spectest)
-# 
-# if(NOT SPECTEST)
-#   find_program(STACK NAMES stack)
-#   if(STACK)
-#     set(SPECTEST
-#       ${STACK} --stack-yaml ${toxcore_SOURCE_DIR}/../stack.yaml exec --
-#       tox-spectest)
-#   endif()
-# endif()
-# 
-# if(MSGPACK_FOUND)
-#   add_executable(toxcore-sut
-#     testing/hstox/binary_decode.c
-#     testing/hstox/binary_encode.c
-#     testing/hstox/driver.c
-#     testing/hstox/methods.c
-#     testing/hstox/packet_kinds.c
-#     testing/hstox/test_main.c
-#     testing/hstox/util.c)
-#   target_link_modules(toxcore-sut
-#     toxcore
-#     toxdht
-#     toxnetcrypto
-#     ${MSGPACK_LIBRARIES})
-#   if(SPECTEST)
-#     add_test(NAME spectest COMMAND ${SPECTEST} $<TARGET_FILE:toxcore-sut>)
-#   endif()
-# endif()
-
 ################################################################################
 #
 # :: Unit tests: no networking, just pure function calls.
@@ -448,15 +383,6 @@ install_module(toxcore DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR}/tox)
 
 include(CompileGTest)
 
-function(unit_test subdir target)
-  if(HAVE_GTEST)
-    add_executable(unit_${target}_test ${subdir}/${target}_test.cpp)
-    target_link_modules(unit_${target}_test ${toxcore_SUBLIBS} gtest)
-    set_target_properties(unit_${target}_test PROPERTIES COMPILE_FLAGS "${TEST_CXX_FLAGS}")
-    add_test(NAME ${target} COMMAND ${CROSSCOMPILING_EMULATOR} unit_${target}_test)
-  endif()
-endfunction()
-
 # The actual unit tests follow.
 #
 unit_test(toxav rtp)
@@ -488,11 +414,7 @@ endif()
 function(auto_test target)
   if(NOT (MSVC AND ARGV1 STREQUAL "MSVC_DONT_BUILD"))
     add_executable(auto_${target}_test auto_tests/${target}_test.c)
-    target_link_modules(auto_${target}_test
-      toxcore
-      toxcrypto
-      toxmessenger
-      toxnetcrypto)
+    target_link_modules(auto_${target}_test toxcore)
     if(NOT ARGV1 STREQUAL "DONT_RUN")
       add_test(NAME ${target} COMMAND ${CROSSCOMPILING_EMULATOR} auto_${target}_test)
       set_tests_properties(${target} PROPERTIES TIMEOUT "${TEST_TIMEOUT_SECONDS}")
@@ -505,12 +427,7 @@ if(BUILD_TOXAV)
   add_executable(auto_monolith_test
     auto_tests/monolith_test.cpp
     ${ANDROID_CPU_FEATURES})
-  target_link_modules(auto_monolith_test
-    ${LIBSODIUM_LIBRARIES}
-    ${OPUS_LIBRARIES}
-    ${VPX_LIBRARIES}
-    ${toxcore_PKGCONFIG_LIBS}
-  )
+  target_link_libraries(auto_monolith_test ${toxcore_LINK_MODULES})
   add_test(NAME monolith COMMAND ${CROSSCOMPILING_EMULATOR} auto_monolith_test)
 
   if(ANDROID_CPU_FEATURES)
@@ -560,7 +477,7 @@ if(DHT_BOOTSTRAP)
   add_executable(DHT_bootstrap
     other/DHT_bootstrap.c
     other/bootstrap_node_packets.c)
-  target_link_modules(DHT_bootstrap toxnetcrypto)
+  target_link_modules(DHT_bootstrap toxcore)
 endif()
 
 option(BOOTSTRAP_DAEMON "Enable building of tox-bootstrapd" ON)
@@ -586,7 +503,7 @@ if(BOOTSTRAP_DAEMON)
       other/bootstrap_daemon/src/tox-bootstrapd.c
       other/bootstrap_node_packets.c
       other/bootstrap_node_packets.h)
-    target_link_modules(tox-bootstrapd toxfriends ${LIBCONFIG_LIBRARIES})
+    target_link_modules(tox-bootstrapd toxcore ${LIBCONFIG_LIBRARIES})
     install(TARGETS tox-bootstrapd RUNTIME DESTINATION bin)
   endif()
 endif()
@@ -615,7 +532,7 @@ if(NOT WIN32
 endif()
 
 add_executable(DHT_test testing/DHT_test.c)
-target_link_modules(DHT_test toxdht)
+target_link_modules(DHT_test toxcore)
 
 add_executable(Messenger_test testing/Messenger_test.c)
-target_link_modules(Messenger_test toxmessenger)
+target_link_modules(Messenger_test toxcore)
diff --git a/cmake/CompileGTest.cmake b/cmake/CompileGTest.cmake
index 520ca06a..1974901e 100644
--- a/cmake/CompileGTest.cmake
+++ b/cmake/CompileGTest.cmake
@@ -47,3 +47,12 @@ if(GTEST_ALL_CC)
     endif()
   endif()
 endif()
+
+function(unit_test subdir target)
+  if(HAVE_GTEST)
+    add_executable(unit_${target}_test ${subdir}/${target}_test.cpp)
+    target_link_modules(unit_${target}_test toxcore gtest)
+    set_target_properties(unit_${target}_test PROPERTIES COMPILE_FLAGS "${TEST_CXX_FLAGS}")
+    add_test(NAME ${target} COMMAND ${CROSSCOMPILING_EMULATOR} unit_${target}_test)
+  endif()
+endfunction()
diff --git a/cmake/ModulePackage.cmake b/cmake/ModulePackage.cmake
index 8ee8d6d7..f0eef7c9 100644
--- a/cmake/ModulePackage.cmake
+++ b/cmake/ModulePackage.cmake
@@ -28,12 +28,6 @@ function(pkg_use_module mod pkg)
   endif()
 endfunction()
 
-macro(add_submodule super lib)
-  add_module(${lib} ${ARGN})
-  set(${super}_SUBLIBS ${${super}_SUBLIBS} ${lib})
-  set(${super}_SOURCES ${${super}_SOURCES} ${${lib}_SOURCES})
-endmacro()
-
 function(add_module lib)
   set(${lib}_SOURCES ${ARGN} PARENT_SCOPE)
 
@@ -132,8 +126,8 @@ function(target_link_modules target)
     set(_targets ${_targets} ${target})
     # Executables preferably link against static libraries, so they are
     # standalone and can be shipped without any external dependencies. As a
-    # frame of reference: tests become roughly 1-1.5M binaries instead of
-    # 100-200K on x86_64 Linux.
+    # frame of reference: tests become roughly 600-800K binaries instead of
+    # 50-100K on x86_64 Linux.
     set(${target}_primary static)
     set(${target}_secondary shared)
   endif()