diff --git a/R/build.R b/R/build.R
index e74bf19..79cd06f 100644
--- a/R/build.R
+++ b/R/build.R
@@ -5,15 +5,27 @@
 build_package <- function(path, tmpdir, build_args, libpath, quiet) {
   path <- normalizePath(path)
 
+  check_for_tilde_file(path)
+
   dir.create(tmpdir, recursive = TRUE, showWarnings = FALSE)
   tmpdir <- normalizePath(tmpdir)
 
   if (file.info(path)$isdir) {
     if (!quiet) cat_head("R CMD build")
+
+    desc <- desc(path)
+    clean_doc <- as_flag(desc$get("Config/build/clean-inst-doc"), NULL)
+
     with_envvar(
       c("R_LIBS_USER" = paste(libpath, collapse = .Platform$path.sep)), {
-        proc <- pkgbuild_process$new(path, tmpdir, args = build_args)
+        proc <- pkgbuild_process$new(
+          path,
+          tmpdir,
+          args = build_args,
+          clean_doc = clean_doc
+        )
         on.exit(proc$kill(), add = TRUE)
+
         callback <- detect_callback()
         while (proc$is_incomplete_output() || proc$is_incomplete_error()) {
           proc$poll_io(-1)
@@ -38,3 +50,15 @@ build_package <- function(path, tmpdir, build_args, libpath, quiet) {
     dest
   }
 }
+
+check_for_tilde_file <- function(path) {
+  lst <- dir(path)
+  if ("~" %in% lst) {
+    stop(
+      "This package contains a file or directory named `~`. ",
+      "Because of a bug in older R versions (before R 4.0.0), ",
+      "building this package might delete your entire home directory!",
+      "It is best to (carefully!) remove the file. rcmdcehck will exit now."
+    )
+  }
+}
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-build.R b/tests/testthat/test-build.R
index f3ebff3..c9eb688 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-build.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-build.R
@@ -26,3 +26,11 @@ test_that("different packages in the same dir are fine", {
   expect_equal(readLines(res), "baz")
   expect_equal(readLines(f1), "foobar")
 })
+
+test_that("protection against ~ deletion", {
+  mockery::stub(check_for_tilde_file, "dir", c("foo", "~", "bar"))
+  expect_error(
+    check_for_tilde_file(tempfile()),
+    "delete your entire home directory"
+  )
+})