diff --git a/.gemspec b/.gemspec
deleted file mode 100644
index 53e4b76349c..00000000000
--- a/.gemspec
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,84 +0,0 @@
-# -*- encoding: utf-8 -*-
-#
-# PLEASE NOTE
-# This gemspec is not intended to be used for building the Puppet gem.  This
-# gemspec is intended for use with bundler when Puppet is a dependency of
-# another project.  For example, the stdlib project is able to integrate with
-# the main branch of Puppet by using a Gemfile path of
-# https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppet
-#
-# Please see the [packaging
-# repository](https://github.com/puppetlabs/packaging) for information on how
-# to build the Puppet gem package.
-#
-# Make sure these gem requirements are in sync with ext/project_data.yaml and
-# the Gemfile
-
-Gem::Specification.new do |s|
-  s.name = "puppet"
-  version = "8.7.0"
-  mdata = version.match(/(\d+\.\d+\.\d+)/)
-  s.version = mdata ? mdata[1] : version
-
-  s.required_rubygems_version = Gem::Requirement.new("> 1.3.1")
-  s.required_ruby_version = Gem::Requirement.new(">= 3.1.0")
-  s.authors = ["Puppet Labs"]
-  s.date = "2012-08-17"
-  s.description = <<~EOF
-    Puppet, an automated administrative engine for your Linux, Unix, and Windows systems, performs administrative tasks
-    (such as adding users, installing packages, and updating server configurations) based on a centralized specification.
-  EOF
-  s.email = "puppet@puppetlabs.com"
-  s.executables = ["puppet"]
-  s.files = ["bin/puppet"]
-  s.license = "Apache-2.0"
-  s.homepage = "https://puppetlabs.com"
-  s.rdoc_options = ["--title", "Puppet - Configuration Management", "--main", "README", "--line-numbers"]
-  s.require_paths = ["lib"]
-  s.summary = "Puppet, an automated configuration management tool"
-  s.specification_version = 3
-  s.add_runtime_dependency(%q<facter>, [">= 4.3.0", "< 5"])
-  s.add_runtime_dependency(%q<semantic_puppet>, "~> 1.0")
-  s.add_runtime_dependency(%q<fast_gettext>, ">= 2.1", "< 3")
-  s.add_runtime_dependency(%q<locale>, "~> 2.1")
-  s.add_runtime_dependency(%q<multi_json>, "~> 1.13")
-  s.add_runtime_dependency(%q<puppet-resource_api>, "~> 1.5")
-  s.add_runtime_dependency(%q<concurrent-ruby>, "~> 1.0")
-  s.add_runtime_dependency(%q<deep_merge>, "~> 1.0")
-  s.add_runtime_dependency(%q<scanf>, "~> 1.0")
-
-  # loads platform specific gems like ffi, win32 platform gems
-  # as additional runtime dependencies
-  gem_deps_path = File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'ext', 'project_data.yaml')
-
-  # inside of a Vanagon produced package, project_data.yaml does not exist
-  next unless File.exist?(gem_deps_path)
-
-  # so only load these dependencies from a git clone / bundle install workflow
-  require 'yaml'
-  data = YAML.load_file(gem_deps_path)
-  bundle_platforms = data['bundle_platforms']
-  x64_platform = Gem::Platform.local.cpu == 'x64'
-  data['gem_platform_dependencies'].each_pair do |gem_platform, info|
-    next if gem_platform == 'x86-mingw32' && x64_platform
-    next if gem_platform == 'x64-mingw32' && !x64_platform
-    if bundle_deps = info['gem_runtime_dependencies']
-      bundle_platform = bundle_platforms[gem_platform] or raise "Missing bundle_platform"
-      if bundle_platform == "all"
-        bundle_deps.each_pair do |name, version|
-          s.add_runtime_dependency(name, version)
-        end
-      else
-        # important to use .to_s and not .os for the sake of Windows
-        # .cpu  => x64
-        # .os   => mingw32
-        # .to_s => x64-mingw32
-        if Gem::Platform.local.to_s == gem_platform
-          bundle_deps.each_pair do |name, version|
-            s.add_runtime_dependency(name, version)
-          end
-        end
-      end
-    end
-  end
-end
diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 101ad14c1cf..ed574508369 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -12,7 +12,9 @@ def location_for(place, fake_version = nil)
   end
 end
 
-# Make sure these gem requirements are in sync with the gempspec and ext/project_data.yaml
+# Make sure these gem requirements are in sync with the gempspec. Specifically,
+# the runtime_dependencies in puppet.gemspec match the runtime dependencies here
+# (like facter, semantic_puppet, and puppet-resource_api)
 
 gem "facter", *location_for(ENV['FACTER_LOCATION'] || ["~> 4.3"])
 gem "semantic_puppet", *location_for(ENV['SEMANTIC_PUPPET_LOCATION'] || ["~> 1.0"])
@@ -33,6 +35,7 @@ group(:features) do
   # requires native ldap headers/libs
   # gem 'ruby-ldap', '~> 0.9', require: false, platforms: [:ruby]
   gem 'puppetserver-ca', '~> 2.0', require: false
+  gem 'CFPropertyList', ['>= 3.0.6', '< 4'], require: false
 end
 
 group(:test) do
diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index b03184d7eee..806e1c04dfb 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -45,6 +45,19 @@ task :default do
   sh %{rake -T}
 end
 
+namespace :pl_ci do
+  desc 'Build puppet gems'
+  task :gem_build do
+    stdout, stderr, status = Open3.capture3('gem build puppet.gemspec --platform x86-mingw32 && gem build puppet.gemspec --platform x64-mingw32 && gem build puppet.gemspec --platform universal-darwin && gem build puppet.gemspec')
+    if !status.exitstatus.zero?
+      puts "Error building facter.gemspec \n#{stdout} \n#{stderr}"
+      exit(1)
+    else
+      puts stdout
+    end
+  end
+end
+
 task :spec do
   ENV["LOG_SPEC_ORDER"] = "true"
   sh %{rspec #{ENV['TEST'] || ENV['TESTS'] || 'spec'}}
diff --git a/ext/project_data.yaml b/ext/project_data.yaml
index 84487796617..91adc895e4d 100644
--- a/ext/project_data.yaml
+++ b/ext/project_data.yaml
@@ -1,53 +1,10 @@
 ---
 project: 'puppet'
-author: 'Puppet Labs'
-email: 'info@puppetlabs.com'
-homepage: 'https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppet'
-summary: 'Puppet, an automated configuration management tool'
-description: 'Puppet, an automated configuration management tool'
-version_file: 'lib/puppet/version.rb'
-# files and gem_files are space separated lists
-files: '[A-Z]* install.rb bin lib conf man examples ext tasks locales'
-# Make sure these gem requirements are in sync with the gemspec and Gemfile
-gem_files: '[A-Z]* install.rb bin lib conf man examples ext tasks locales'
-gem_test_files:
-gem_executables: 'puppet'
-gem_default_executables: 'puppet'
-gem_license: 'Apache-2.0'
-gem_forge_project: 'puppet'
-gem_required_ruby_version: '>= 3.1.0'
-gem_required_rubygems_version: '> 1.3.1'
-gem_runtime_dependencies:
-  facter: ['>= 4.3.0', '< 5']
-  semantic_puppet: '~> 1.0'
-  fast_gettext: ['>= 2.1', '< 3']
-  locale: '~> 2.1'
-  multi_json: '~> 1.13'
-  puppet-resource_api: '~>1.5'
-  concurrent-ruby: "~> 1.0"
-  deep_merge: '~> 1.0'
-  scanf: '~> 1.0'
 gem_rdoc_options:
   - --title
   - "Puppet - Configuration Management"
   - --main
   - README.md
   - --line-numbers
-gem_platform_dependencies:
-  universal-darwin:
-    gem_runtime_dependencies:
-      CFPropertyList: ['>= 3.0.6', '< 4']
-  x86-mingw32:
-    gem_runtime_dependencies:
-      ffi: '1.15.5'
-      minitar: '~> 0.9'
-  x64-mingw32:
-    gem_runtime_dependencies:
-      ffi: '1.15.5'
-      minitar: '~> 0.9'
-bundle_platforms:
-  universal-darwin: all
-  x86-mingw32: mingw
-  x64-mingw32: x64_mingw
 pre_tasks:
   'package:apple': 'cfpropertylist'
diff --git a/puppet.gemspec b/puppet.gemspec
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0e2b6a7087c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/puppet.gemspec
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+Gem::Specification.new do |s|
+  s.name = "puppet"
+  version = "8.7.0"
+  mdata = version.match(/(\d+\.\d+\.\d+)/)
+  s.version = mdata ? mdata[1] : version
+  s.licenses = ['Apache-2.0']
+
+  s.required_rubygems_version = Gem::Requirement.new("> 1.3.1")
+  s.required_ruby_version = Gem::Requirement.new(">= 3.1.0")
+  s.authors = ["Puppet Labs"]
+  s.date = "2012-08-17"
+  s.description = <<~EOF
+    Puppet, an automated administrative engine for your Linux, Unix, and Windows systems, performs administrative tasks
+    (such as adding users, installing packages, and updating server configurations) based on a centralized specification.
+  EOF
+  s.email = "info@puppetlabs.com"
+  s.executables = ["puppet"]
+  s.files = Dir['[A-Z]*'] + Dir['install.rb'] + Dir['bin/*'] + Dir['lib/**/*'] + Dir['conf/*'] + Dir['man/**/*'] + Dir['tasks/*'] + Dir['locales/**/*'] + Dir['ext/**/*'] + Dir['examples/**/*']
+  s.license = "Apache-2.0"
+  s.homepage = "https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppet"
+  s.rdoc_options = ["--title", "Puppet - Configuration Management", "--main", "README", "--line-numbers"]
+  s.require_paths = ["lib"]
+  s.summary = "Puppet, an automated configuration management tool"
+  s.specification_version = 4
+  s.add_runtime_dependency(%q<facter>, [">= 4.3.0", "< 5"])
+  s.add_runtime_dependency(%q<semantic_puppet>, "~> 1.0")
+  s.add_runtime_dependency(%q<fast_gettext>, ">= 2.1", "< 3")
+  s.add_runtime_dependency(%q<locale>, "~> 2.1")
+  s.add_runtime_dependency(%q<multi_json>, "~> 1.13")
+  s.add_runtime_dependency(%q<puppet-resource_api>, "~> 1.5")
+  s.add_runtime_dependency(%q<concurrent-ruby>, "~> 1.0")
+  s.add_runtime_dependency(%q<deep_merge>, "~> 1.0")
+  s.add_runtime_dependency(%q<scanf>, "~> 1.0")
+
+  platform = s.platform.to_s
+    if platform == 'universal-darwin'
+      s.add_runtime_dependency('CFPropertyList', ['>= 3.0.6', '< 4'])
+    end
+
+    if platform == 'x64-mingw32' || platform == 'x86-mingw32'
+      s.add_runtime_dependency('ffi', '1.15.5')
+      s.add_runtime_dependency('minitar', '~> 0.9')
+    end
+end
diff --git a/spec/unit/provider/user/directoryservice_spec.rb b/spec/unit/provider/user/directoryservice_spec.rb
index 14a1183cf0d..80af3bd42b1 100644
--- a/spec/unit/provider/user/directoryservice_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/provider/user/directoryservice_spec.rb
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 module Puppet::Util::Plist
 end
 
-describe Puppet::Type.type(:user).provider(:directoryservice) do
+describe Puppet::Type.type(:user).provider(:directoryservice), :if => Puppet.features.cfpropertylist? do 
   let(:username) { 'nonexistent_user' }
   let(:user_path) { "/Users/#{username}" }
   let(:resource) do