diff --git a/gnu/local.mk b/gnu/local.mk
index a2a1caa709..41cec534e5 100644
--- a/gnu/local.mk
+++ b/gnu/local.mk
@@ -1497,6 +1497,7 @@ dist_patch_DATA =						\
   %D%/packages/patches/readline-link-ncurses.patch		\
   %D%/packages/patches/readline-6.2-CVE-2014-2524.patch		\
   %D%/packages/patches/reposurgeon-add-missing-docbook-files.patch	\
+  %D%/packages/patches/r-httpuv-1.5.4-unvendor-libuv.patch	\
   %D%/packages/patches/ri-li-modernize_cpp.patch		\
   %D%/packages/patches/ripperx-missing-file.patch		\
   %D%/packages/patches/rpcbind-CVE-2017-8779.patch		\
diff --git a/gnu/packages/cran.scm b/gnu/packages/cran.scm
index 5ede11a4e3..c7619dc621 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/cran.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/cran.scm
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 ;;; Copyright © 2020 Naga Malleswari <nagamalli@riseup.net>
 ;;; Copyright © 2020 Eric Brown <ecbrown@ericcbrown.com>
 ;;; Copyright © 2020 Peter Lo <peterloleungyau@gmail.com>
+;;; Copyright © 2020 Lars-Dominik Braun <ldb@leibniz-psychology.org>
 ;;;
 ;;; This file is part of GNU Guix.
 ;;;
@@ -45,6 +46,7 @@
   #:use-module (guix git-download)
   #:use-module (guix utils)
   #:use-module (guix build-system r)
+  #:use-module (gnu packages)
   #:use-module (gnu packages algebra)
   #:use-module (gnu packages autotools)
   #:use-module (gnu packages base)
@@ -67,6 +69,7 @@
   #:use-module (gnu packages imagemagick)
   #:use-module (gnu packages java)
   #:use-module (gnu packages javascript)
+  #:use-module (gnu packages libevent)
   #:use-module (gnu packages lisp-xyz)
   #:use-module (gnu packages machine-learning)
   #:use-module (gnu packages maths)
@@ -800,8 +803,35 @@ into a pipeline of data manipulation and visualisation.")
               (uri (cran-uri "httpuv" version))
               (sha256
                (base32
-                "066rprqvz9qln6xd85x1yh1wbbmzd157xjl8zq1zbgr8l6347inm"))))
+                "066rprqvz9qln6xd85x1yh1wbbmzd157xjl8zq1zbgr8l6347inm"))
+              ;; Unvendor bundled libraries. As of 1.5.4 the vendored libuv
+              ;; only contains fixes for building on Solaris.
+              (patches (search-patches "r-httpuv-1.5.4-unvendor-libuv.patch"))
+              (modules '((guix build utils)
+                         (ice-9 ftw)
+                         (srfi srfi-1)))
+              (snippet
+               `(begin
+                  (delete-file-recursively "src/libuv")
+                  ;; Cannot unbundle http-parser, because it contains local
+                  ;; modifications.
+                  #t))))
     (build-system r-build-system)
+    (arguments
+     `(#:phases
+       (modify-phases %standard-phases
+         (add-after 'unpack 'unbundle-libuv
+           (lambda* (#:key outputs #:allow-other-keys)
+             (substitute* (find-files "src" "\\.cpp$|\\.h$")
+               (("\"libuv/include/uv\\.h\"")
+                "<uv.h>"))
+             ;; Fix https://github.com/rstudio/httpuv/issues/282
+             (substitute* "src/http.cpp"
+               (("uv_pipe_init\\(pLoop, &pSocket->handle\\.pipe, true\\);")
+                "uv_pipe_init(pLoop, &pSocket->handle.pipe, 0);"))
+             #t)))))
+    (inputs
+     `(("libuv" ,libuv)))
     (propagated-inputs
      `(("r-bh" ,r-bh)
        ("r-later" ,r-later)
diff --git a/gnu/packages/patches/r-httpuv-1.5.4-unvendor-libuv.patch b/gnu/packages/patches/r-httpuv-1.5.4-unvendor-libuv.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0947718059
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gnu/packages/patches/r-httpuv-1.5.4-unvendor-libuv.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+Removes references to bundled libuv.
+
+--- a/src/Makevars	2020-07-31 11:53:30.576484531 +0200
++++ b/src/Makevars	2020-07-31 11:54:19.369863118 +0200
+@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
+ 
+ UNAME := $(shell uname)
+ 
+-PKG_LIBS = ./libuv/.libs/libuv.a ./http-parser/http_parser.o ./sha1/sha1.o ./base64/base64.o -pthread
++PKG_LIBS = -luv ./http-parser/http_parser.o ./sha1/sha1.o ./base64/base64.o -pthread
+ 
+ ifeq ($(UNAME), Darwin)
+ PKG_LIBS += -framework CoreServices
+@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
+ 
+ PKG_CFLAGS = $(C_VISIBILITY) -DSTRICT_R_HEADERS
+ PKG_CXXFLAGS = $(CXX_VISIBILITY) -DSTRICT_R_HEADERS
+-PKG_CPPFLAGS = -Ilibuv/include -pthread
++PKG_CPPFLAGS = -pthread
+ 
+ # To avoid spurious warnings from `R CMD check --as-cran`, about compiler
+ # warning flags like -Werror.
+@@ -43,35 +43,5 @@
+ # PKG_CPPFLAGS += -D_GLIBCXX_ASSERTIONS
+ 
+ 
+-$(SHLIB): libuv/.libs/libuv.a http-parser/http_parser.o sha1/sha1.o base64/base64.o
++$(SHLIB): http-parser/http_parser.o sha1/sha1.o base64/base64.o
+ 
+-# We needed to rename lt~obsolete.m4 because the name causes problems with R
+-# CMD check. Here we rename it back.
+-libuv/m4/lt~obsolete.m4: libuv/m4/lt_obsolete.m4
+-	cp -p -f libuv/m4/lt_obsolete.m4 libuv/m4/lt~obsolete.m4
+-
+-# Run ./configure. We need to touch various autotools-related files to avoid
+-# it trying to run autotools programs again. We also need to make sure
+-# configure is executable, because on some platforms, calling unzip() in R
+-# does not preserve the executable bit.
+-#
+-# It's VERY IMPORTANT that mtime(aclocal.m4) <= mtime(configure), and also
+-# mtime(aclocal.m4) <= mtime(Makefile.in). On some platforms, passing multiple
+-# files to a single touch command gives them all the same time, but on others
+-# (Solaris and possibly some Fedoras) the timestamps are slightly increasing
+-# from one to the next, i.e. the order matters. To remove this fragility, we
+-# use "-r aclocal.m4" to ensure that all three files are guaranteed to have
+-# precisely the same timestamp value.
+-libuv/Makefile: libuv/m4/lt~obsolete.m4
+-	(cd libuv \
+-		&& touch aclocal.m4 \
+-		&& touch -r aclocal.m4 configure Makefile.in \
+-		&& chmod +x configure \
+-		&& CC="$(CC)" CFLAGS="$(CFLAGS) $(CPICFLAGS) $(C_VISIBILITY)" AR="$(AR)" RANLIB="$(RANLIB)" LDFLAGS="$(LDFLAGS)" ./configure $(CONFIGURE_FLAGS))
+-
+-libuv/.libs/libuv.a: libuv/Makefile
+-	$(MAKE) --directory=libuv \
+-		HAVE_DTRACE=0
+-
+-clean:
+-	$(MAKE) --directory=libuv distclean
