diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index 31f95b1..8b13789 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -1,5 +1 @@
 
-[submodule "cFMS"]
-	path = cFMS
-	url = https://github.com/NOAA-GFDL/cFMS.git
-  branch = main
diff --git a/cFMS b/cFMS
deleted file mode 160000
index b9ebf84..0000000
--- a/cFMS
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Subproject commit b9ebf8431100a4c7ebb14ae919301a7b6ec53136
diff --git a/compile_c_libs.sh b/compile_c_libs.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 409c4ad..0000000
--- a/compile_c_libs.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,78 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-set -ex
-#set -o posix
-
-#yaml includes
-YAML_FLAGS+=""
-
-#yaml libraries
-YAML_LDFLAGS+=""
-
-#fortran netcdf includes
-NF_FLAGS+=$(nf-config --fflags)
-
-#c netcdf includes
-NC_FLAGS+=$(nc-config --cflags)
-
-#netcdf libraries
-NC_LDFLAGS=$(nc-config --libs | nf-config --flibs)
-
-#fortran and c compiler
-FC=mpif90
-CC=mpicc
-
-#fms fortran, c, library compiler flags
-FMS_FCFLAGS+="$NF_FLAGS -fPIC"
-FMS_CFLAGS+="$NC_FLAGS $YAML_FLAGS -fPIC"
-FMS_LDFLAGS+="$NC_LDFLAGS $YAML_LDFLAGS"
-
-#cfms fortran, c, library compiler flags
-#cfms does not need the netcdf flags.
-#these will be removed once cfms configure.ac is updated
-cFMS_FCFLAGS+="-fPIC $NF_FLAGS"
-cFMS_CFLAGS+="-fPIC $NC_FLAGS"
-cFMS_LDFLAGS+=""
-
-curr_dir=$PWD
-
-#fms installation path
-fms_install=$curr_dir/pyfms/lib/FMS
-
-#cfms installation path
-cfms_install=$curr_dir/pyfms/lib/cFMS
-
-#cfms to compile
-cfms_dir=$curr_dir/cFMS
-
-#fms to compile
-fms_dir=$cfms_dir/FMS
-
-#compile fms with autotools
-cd $fms_dir
-autoreconf -iv
-./configure --enable-portable-kinds \
-            --with-yaml \
-            --prefix=$fms_install \
-            FC=$FC \
-            CC=$CC \
-            FCFLAGS="$FMS_FCFLAGS" \
-            CFLAGS="$FMS_CFLAGS" \
-            LDFLAGS="$FMS_LDFLAGS"
-make install
-
-cd $currdir
-
-#compile cFMS with autotools
-cd $cfms_dir
-autoreconf -iv
-./configure --with-fms=$fms_install \
-            --prefix=$cfms_install \
-            FC=$FC \
-            CC=$CC \
-            FCFLAGS="$cFMS_FCFLAGS" \
-            CFLAGS="$cFMS_CFLAGS" \
-            LDFLAGS="$cFMS_LDFLAGS"
-make install
-
-cd $currdir
diff --git a/pyfms/cfms.py b/pyfms/cfms.py
index 72a570e..fe962d2 100644
--- a/pyfms/cfms.py
+++ b/pyfms/cfms.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import ctypes
-import os
 
 import pyfms
 
@@ -26,14 +25,11 @@ def init(libpath: str = None):
     # todo reset all _function parameters to None
 
     if libpath is None:
-        _libpath = os.path.dirname(__file__) + "/lib/cFMS/lib/libcFMS.so"
+        _libpath = "libcFMS.so"
         try:
             _lib = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary(_libpath)
-        except OSError:
-            print(
-                f"{_libpath} does not exist.  Please provide a path to cFMS with\
-                pyfms.cfms.init(libpath=path_to_cfms)"
-            )
+        except Exception as e:
+            print(f"{type(e).__name__}: {e}")
             return
     else:
         _libpath = libpath
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index e8d16e2..74b5f25 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,14 +1,31 @@
 import subprocess
 
 from setuptools import find_namespace_packages, setup
-from setuptools.command.build import build
+from setuptools.command.editable_wheel import editable_wheel as _editable_wheel
+from setuptools.command.install import install as _install
 
 
-class CustomBuild(build):
+class editable_wheel(_editable_wheel):
     def run(self):
-        with open("install.log", "w") as f:
-            subprocess.run(["./compile_c_libs.sh"], stdout=f, check=True)
-        build.run(self)
+        print("Installing cFMS")
+        try:
+            subprocess.run(["conda", "install", "-y", "-c", "file:///home/Frank.Malatino/cfms_conda_channel", "cfms"], check=True, capture_output=True, text=True)
+        except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
+            print(f"Error during conda install of cFMS: {e}")
+            print("STDOUT:", e.stdout)
+            print("STDERR:", e.stderr)
+        _editable_wheel.run(self)
+
+class install(_install):
+    def run(self):
+        print("Installing cFMS")
+        try:
+            subprocess.run(["conda", "install", "-y", "-c", "file:///home/Frank.Malatino/cfms_conda_channel", "cfms"], check=True, capture_output=True, text=True)
+        except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
+            print(f"Error during conda install of cFMS: {e}")
+            print("STDOUT:", e.stdout)
+            print("STDERR:", e.stderr)
+        _install.run(self)
 
 
 test_requirements = ["pytest", "pytest-subtests", "coverage"]
@@ -44,7 +61,7 @@ def run(self):
     name="pyfms",
     license="",
     packages=find_namespace_packages(include=["pyfms", "pyfms.*"]),
-    cmdclass={"build": CustomBuild},
+    cmdclass={"editable_wheel": editable_wheel, "install": install},
     include_package_data=True,
     url="https://github.com/fmalatino/pyFMS.git",
     version="2024.02.0",