diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 219b3ad0b..dc08c3852 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2024-11-25  Simon Guest  <simon.guest@tesujimath.org>
+
+	* src/attributes.cpp: fix CPP source having to be writable
+
 2024-11-03  Marco Colombo  <mar.colombo13@gmail.com>
 
 	* vignettes/rmd/Rcpp-FAQ.Rmd: Fixed typos
diff --git a/src/attributes.cpp b/src/attributes.cpp
index 4dfbdbfeb..33f3459c3 100644
--- a/src/attributes.cpp
+++ b/src/attributes.cpp
@@ -3279,7 +3279,7 @@ namespace {
 
             // copy the source file to the build dir
             Rcpp::Function filecopy = Rcpp::Environment::base_env()["file.copy"];
-            filecopy(cppSourcePath_, generatedCppSourcePath(), true);
+            filecopy(cppSourcePath_, generatedCppSourcePath(), true, Rcpp::_["copy.mode"] = false);
 
             // parse attributes
             SourceFileAttributesParser sourceAttributes(cppSourcePath_, "", true);