diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 22a363fbb..7569fd6ce 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -10,18 +10,13 @@ ifeq (,$(wildcard Makefile.global))
 endif
 
 include Makefile.global
+
 all: extension
 
-
-#build columnar only
-columnar:
-	$(MAKE) -C src/backend/columnar all
 # build extension
-extension: $(citus_top_builddir)/src/include/citus_version.h columnar
+extension: $(citus_top_builddir)/src/include/citus_version.h
 	$(MAKE) -C src/backend/distributed/ all
-install-columnar:
-	$(MAKE) -C src/backend/columnar install
-install-extension: extension install-columnar
+install-extension: extension
 	$(MAKE) -C src/backend/distributed/ install
 install-headers: extension
 	$(MKDIR_P) '$(DESTDIR)$(includedir_server)/distributed/'
@@ -32,7 +27,6 @@ install-headers: extension
 
 clean-extension:
 	$(MAKE) -C src/backend/distributed/ clean
-	$(MAKE) -C src/backend/columnar/ clean
 clean-full:
 	$(MAKE) -C src/backend/distributed/ clean-full
 .PHONY: extension install-extension clean-extension clean-full
@@ -41,8 +35,8 @@ install: install-extension install-headers
 install-downgrades:
 	$(MAKE) -C src/backend/distributed/ install-downgrades
 install-all: install-headers
-	$(MAKE) -C src/backend/columnar/ install-all
 	$(MAKE) -C src/backend/distributed/ install-all
+
 clean: clean-extension
 
 # apply or check style
diff --git a/src/backend/columnar/Makefile b/src/backend/columnar/Makefile
deleted file mode 100644
index abda9c90d..000000000
--- a/src/backend/columnar/Makefile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-citus_subdir = src/backend/columnar
-citus_top_builddir = ../../..
-safestringlib_srcdir = $(citus_abs_top_srcdir)/vendor/safestringlib
-SUBDIRS = . safeclib
-SUBDIRS +=
-ENSURE_SUBDIRS_EXIST := $(shell mkdir -p $(SUBDIRS))
-OBJS += \
-	$(patsubst $(citus_abs_srcdir)/%.c,%.o,$(foreach dir,$(SUBDIRS), $(sort $(wildcard $(citus_abs_srcdir)/$(dir)/*.c))))
-
-MODULE_big = citus_columnar
-
-PG_CPPFLAGS += -I$(libpq_srcdir) -I$(safestringlib_srcdir)/include
-
-include $(citus_top_builddir)/Makefile.global
-
-.PHONY: install-all
-install-all: install
diff --git a/src/backend/columnar/columnar_debug.c b/src/backend/columnar/columnar_debug.c
index 220d259fe..f72ec5f8f 100644
--- a/src/backend/columnar/columnar_debug.c
+++ b/src/backend/columnar/columnar_debug.c
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 #include "postgres.h"
 
 #include "funcapi.h"
+#include "pg_config.h"
 #include "access/nbtree.h"
 #include "access/table.h"
 #include "catalog/pg_am.h"
diff --git a/src/backend/columnar/mod.c b/src/backend/columnar/mod.c
index c064b54c6..f2679f326 100644
--- a/src/backend/columnar/mod.c
+++ b/src/backend/columnar/mod.c
@@ -22,13 +22,8 @@
 
 #include "columnar/columnar_tableam.h"
 
-
-PG_MODULE_MAGIC;
-
-void _PG_init(void);
-
 void
-_PG_init(void)
+columnar_init(void)
 {
 	columnar_init_gucs();
 	columnar_tableam_init();
diff --git a/src/backend/columnar/safeclib b/src/backend/columnar/safeclib
deleted file mode 120000
index c4da5b7ad..000000000
--- a/src/backend/columnar/safeclib
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-../../../vendor/safestringlib/safeclib/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/Makefile b/src/backend/distributed/Makefile
index b88d6b77f..a2ffcc142 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/Makefile
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/Makefile
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ DATA_built = $(generated_sql_files)
 
 # directories with source files
 SUBDIRS = . commands connection ddl deparser executor metadata operations planner progress relay safeclib test transaction utils worker
+# columnar modules
+SUBDIRS += ../columnar
 # enterprise modules
 SUBDIRS +=
 
@@ -37,11 +39,8 @@ all:
 NO_PGXS = 1
 
 SHLIB_LINK = $(libpq)
-SHLIB_LINK_INTERNAL += -L../columnar -l:citus_columnar.so
-override enable_rpath = yes
-include $(citus_top_builddir)/Makefile.global
 
-rpathdir := $(shell $(PG_CONFIG) --libdir):$(shell $(PG_CONFIG) --pkglibdir)
+include $(citus_top_builddir)/Makefile.global
 
 # make sure citus_version.o is recompiled whenever any change is made to the binary or any
 # other artifact being installed to reflect the correct gitref for every build
@@ -85,8 +84,7 @@ endif
 .PHONY: clean-full install install-downgrades install-all
 
 cleanup-before-install:
-	rm -f $(DESTDIR)$(datadir)/$(datamoduledir)/citus.control
-	rm -f $(DESTDIR)$(datadir)/$(datamoduledir)/citus--*
+	rm -f $(DESTDIR)$(datadir)/$(datamoduledir)/citus*
 
 install: cleanup-before-install
 
diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/shared_library_init.c b/src/backend/distributed/shared_library_init.c
index 5e9d01e26..7897cbefe 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/shared_library_init.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/shared_library_init.c
@@ -353,13 +353,7 @@ _PG_init(void)
 	{
 		DoInitialCleanup();
 	}
-
-	/*
-	 * For convenience and backwards compatibility, we avoid users having to add both
-	 * citus and columnar to shared_preload_libraries by loading citus_columnar.so as part of
-	 * loading citus.so.
-	 */
-	load_file(COLUMNAR_LIB_NAME, false);
+	columnar_init();
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/include/columnar/mod.h b/src/include/columnar/mod.h
index 7e24b3b6e..7440a9fd7 100644
--- a/src/include/columnar/mod.h
+++ b/src/include/columnar/mod.h
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 
 #ifndef MOD_H
 #define MOD_H
-#define COLUMNAR_LIB_NAME "citus_columnar"
 
 /* Function declarations for extension loading and unloading */
 extern void columnar_init(void);