diff --git a/tools/setup_dependencies.sh b/tools/setup_dependencies.sh
index 3fb7165a50..8d85001d31 100755
--- a/tools/setup_dependencies.sh
+++ b/tools/setup_dependencies.sh
@@ -30,8 +30,19 @@ function install_linux_deps() {
     SUDO="sudo"
   fi
 
+  local missing_linux_deps=0
+  for cmd in gcc g++ make curl curl-config git; do
+    if ! command -v "$cmd" > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+      missing_linux_deps=1
+      break
+    fi
+  done
+
   # normal stuff, this mostly for bare docker images
-  if command -v apt-get > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+  if [[ "$missing_linux_deps" -eq 0 ]]; then
+    # the native package managers are slow, so skip if we canNM_CONNECTIONS_DIRS 
+    echo "[ ] system packages already installed t=$SECONDS"
+  elif command -v apt-get > /dev/null 2>&1; then
     $SUDO apt-get update
     $SUDO apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends ca-certificates build-essential curl libcurl4-openssl-dev locales git
   elif command -v dnf > /dev/null 2>&1; then