diff --git a/config/environments/test.rb b/config/environments/test.rb
index 460911dae..f1db1fda9 100644
--- a/config/environments/test.rb
+++ b/config/environments/test.rb
@@ -37,6 +37,9 @@ Discourse::Application.configure do
   config.pbkdf2_iterations = 10
   config.ember.variant = :development
 
+  config.assets.compile = true
+  config.assets.digest = false
+
   # silence deprecation warnings in test
   config.whiny_nils = true unless rails4?
   config.eager_load = false if rails4?
diff --git a/lib/tasks/assets.rake b/lib/tasks/assets.rake
index 451abba2e..67bee04f7 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/assets.rake
+++ b/lib/tasks/assets.rake
@@ -1,23 +1,14 @@
-task 'assets:precompile' => 'environment' do
-  # see: https://github.com/rails/sprockets-rails/issues/49
-  # a decision was made no longer to copy non-digested assets
-  # this breaks stuff like the emoji plugin. We could fix it,
-  # but its a major pain with little benefit.
-  if rails4?
-    puts "> Copying non-digested versions of assets"
-    assets = Dir.glob(File.join(Rails.root, 'public/assets/**/*'))
-    regex = /(-{1}[a-z0-9]{32}*\.{1}){1}/
-    assets.each do |file|
-      next if File.directory?(file) || file !~ regex
-      next if File.extname(file) == ".json" # Avoid duplicate manifest
 
-      source = file.split('/')
-      source.push(source.pop.gsub(regex, '.'))
+task 'assets:precompile:before' do
 
-      non_digested = File.join(source)
-      FileUtils.cp(file, non_digested)
-    end
-    puts "> Removing cache"
-    `rm -fr tmp/cache`
+  unless %w{profile production}.include? Rails.env
+    raise "rake assets:precompile should only be run in RAILS_ENV=production, you are risking unminified assets"
   end
+
+  # in the past we applied a patch that removed asset postfixes, but it is terrible practice
+  # leaving very complicated build issues
+  # https://github.com/rails/sprockets-rails/issues/49
 end
+
+task 'assets:precompile' => 'assets:precompile:before'
+