diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-and-test.yml b/.github/workflows/build-and-test.yml
index c4f241b7..51ffdc57 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-and-test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-and-test.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install & upgrade pip3
         run: |
           apt-get -yy update
-          apt-get install -y python3-pip
+          apt-get install -y python3-pip pkg-config
           rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
           pip3 install --upgrade --user pip
       - name: Install dependencies
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install & upgrade pip3
         run: |
           apt-get -yy update
-          apt-get install -y python3-pip
+          apt-get install -y python3-pip pkg-config
           rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
           pip3 install --upgrade --user pip
       - name: Install dependencies
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install & upgrade pip3
         run: |
           apt-get -yy update
-          apt-get install -y python3-pip
+          apt-get install -y python3-pip pkg-config
           rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
           pip3 install --upgrade --user pip
       - name: Install dependencies
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install OpenMPI
         run: |
           sudo apt-get -yy update
-          sudo apt-get install -y libopenmpi-dev
+          sudo apt-get install -y libopenmpi-dev cmake libboost-all-dev libeigen3-dev pkg-config
           sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
       - uses: BSFishy/pip-action@v1
         with:
@@ -94,10 +94,16 @@ jobs:
           git clone https://github.com/precice/precice.git precice-core
           mkdir -p precice
           cp precice-core/src/precice/SolverInterface.hpp precice/SolverInterface.hpp
+          cd precice-core
+          mkdir build && cd build
+          cmake .. -DPRECICE_MPICommunication=OFF -DPRECICE_PETScMapping=OFF -DPRECICE_PythonActions=OFF -DBUILD_TESTING=OFF
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: |
           python3 -c 'import toml; c = toml.load("pyproject.toml"); print("\n".join(c["build-system"]["requires"]))' | pip3 install -r /dev/stdin
       - name: Run setup test
+        env:
+          PKG_CONFIG_PATH: "precice-core/build"
+          PKG_CONFIG_SYSTEM_INCLUDE_PATH: 1
         run: |
           export CFLAGS=-I$GITHUB_WORKSPACE
           python3 setup.py test
@@ -113,7 +119,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install & upgrade pip3
         run: |
           apt-get -yy update
-          apt-get install -y python3-pip
+          apt-get install -y python3-pip pkg-config
           rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
           pip3 install --upgrade --user pip
       - name: Run pip install
@@ -132,7 +138,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install & upgrade pip3
         run: |
           apt-get -yy update
-          apt-get install -y python3-pip
+          apt-get install -y python3-pip pkg-config
           rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
           pip3 install --upgrade --user pip
       - name: Run pip install
diff --git a/.github/workflows/run-solverdummy.yml b/.github/workflows/run-solverdummy.yml
index 60e83cf6..8003ef7f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/run-solverdummy.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/run-solverdummy.yml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install Dependencies
         run: |
           apt-get -qq update
-          apt-get -qq install software-properties-common python3-dev python3-pip git apt-utils
+          apt-get -qq install software-properties-common python3-dev python3-pip git apt-utils pkg-config
           rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
       - name: Install bindings
         run:  pip3 install --user .
diff --git a/cyprecice/cyprecice.pyx b/cyprecice/cyprecice.pyx
index 52dc6f03..7d84c4ce 100644
--- a/cyprecice/cyprecice.pyx
+++ b/cyprecice/cyprecice.pyx
@@ -1207,7 +1207,7 @@ cdef class Interface:
         >>> vertex_id = 5
         >>> value = interface.read_scalar_data(data_id, vertex_id)
         """
-        cdef double _value
+        cdef double _value = 0
         self.thisptr.readScalarData (data_id, vertex_id, _value)
         return _value
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 0e050577..a618c480 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 [build-system]
 # PEP 518 - minimum build system requirements
-requires = ["setuptools", "wheel", "Cython>=0.29", "packaging", "pip>=19.0.0", "numpy", "mpi4py"]
+requires = ["setuptools", "wheel", "Cython>=0.29", "packaging", "pip>=19.0.0", "numpy", "mpi4py", "pkgconfig"]
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index b6efc9ff..adbb8d37 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@
 from Cython.Distutils.build_ext import new_build_ext as build_ext
 from Cython.Build import cythonize
 import numpy
+import pkgconfig
 
 
 # name of Interfacing API
@@ -69,8 +70,10 @@ def get_extensions(is_test):
     bindings_sources = [os.path.join(PYTHON_BINDINGS_PATH, "cyprecice",
                                      "cyprecice" + ".pyx")]
 
+    compile_args += pkgconfig.cflags('libprecice').split()
+
     if not is_test:
-        link_args.append("-lprecice")
+        link_args.append(pkgconfig.libs('libprecice'))
     if is_test:
         bindings_sources.append(os.path.join(PYTHON_BINDINGS_PATH, "test",
                                              "SolverInterface.cpp"))