diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index d4e7784dd..0571d2fb9 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 
 # renv 1.1.0  (UNRELEASED)
 
+* Fixed an issue where repository URLs were inappropriately transformed into
+  binary repository URLs on Linux. (#1991)
+
 * Fixed an issue where code following `source("renv/activate.R")` in the project
   `.Rprofile` was not invoked for projects using RStudio. (#1990)
 
diff --git a/R/ppm.R b/R/ppm.R
index 4df44f041..03533761d 100644
--- a/R/ppm.R
+++ b/R/ppm.R
@@ -81,14 +81,12 @@ renv_ppm_transform_impl <- function(url) {
     return(binurl)
   }
 
-  # try to query the status endpoint -- if this fails, use our best guess?
+  # try to query the status endpoint -- if this fails,
+  # assume the repository is not a ppm URL
   base <- dirname(dirname(url))
   status <- catch(renv_ppm_status(base))
-  if (inherits(status, "error")) {
-    parts <- c(dirname(url), "__linux__", platform, basename(url))
-    binurl <- paste(parts, collapse = "/")
-    return(binurl)
-  }
+  if (inherits(status, "error"))
+    return(url)
 
   # iterate through distros and check for a match
   for (distro in status$distros) {