diff --git a/binding.gyp b/binding.gyp
index b056fb6b4..5c2459b18 100644
--- a/binding.gyp
+++ b/binding.gyp
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+# ===
+# This is the main GYP file, which builds better-sqlite3 with SQLite3 itself.
+# ===
+
 {
   'includes': ['deps/common.gypi'],
   'targets': [
diff --git a/deps/common.gypi b/deps/common.gypi
index 5bd141b98..63f36af27 100644
--- a/deps/common.gypi
+++ b/deps/common.gypi
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+# ===
+# This configuration defines the differences between Release and Debug builds.
+# Some miscellaneous Windows settings are also defined here.
+# ===
+
 {
   'target_defaults': {
     'default_configuration': 'Release',
diff --git a/deps/defines.gypi b/deps/defines.gypi
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4e588772c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deps/defines.gypi
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+# THIS FILE IS AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED (DO NOT EDIT)
+
+{
+  'target_defaults': {
+    'defines': [
+      'SQLITE_THREADSAFE=0',
+      'SQLITE_DEFAULT_MEMSTATUS=0',
+      'SQLITE_LIKE_DOESNT_MATCH_BLOBS',
+      'SQLITE_OMIT_DEPRECATED',
+      'SQLITE_OMIT_TRACE',
+      'SQLITE_OMIT_COMPLETE',
+      'SQLITE_OMIT_GET_TABLE',
+      'SQLITE_OMIT_DESERIALIZE',
+      'SQLITE_OMIT_TCL_VARIABLE',
+      'SQLITE_OMIT_AUTHORIZATION',
+      'SQLITE_OMIT_PROGRESS_CALLBACK',
+      'SQLITE_DEFAULT_CACHE_SIZE=-16000',
+      'SQLITE_DEFAULT_FOREIGN_KEYS=1',
+      'SQLITE_DEFAULT_WAL_SYNCHRONOUS=1',
+      'SQLITE_MAX_ATTACHED=125',
+      'SQLITE_MAX_LENGTH=2147483647',
+      'SQLITE_MAX_SQL_LENGTH=1073741824',
+      'SQLITE_USE_URI=1',
+      'SQLITE_ENABLE_COLUMN_METADATA',
+      'SQLITE_ENABLE_UPDATE_DELETE_LIMIT',
+      'SQLITE_ENABLE_FTS4',
+      'SQLITE_ENABLE_FTS5',
+      'SQLITE_ENABLE_JSON1',
+      'SQLITE_ENABLE_RTREE',
+      'SQLITE_INTROSPECTION_PRAGMAS',
+      'SQLITE_SOUNDEX',
+    ],
+  },
+}
diff --git a/deps/download.sh b/deps/download.sh
index 15d5a62d1..a8bd6ab4a 100755
--- a/deps/download.sh
+++ b/deps/download.sh
@@ -1,16 +1,72 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env sh
 
+# ===
+# This script defines and generates the bundled SQLite3 unit (sqlite3.c).
+# 
+# The following steps are taken:
+# 1. populate the shell environment with the defined compile-time options.
+# 2. download and extract the SQLite3 source code into a temporary directory.
+# 3. run "sh configure" and "make sqlite3.c" within the source directory.
+# 4. bundle the generated amalgamation into a tar.gz file (sqlite3.tar.gz).
+# 5. export the defined compile-time options to a gyp file (defines.gypi).
+# 6. update the docs (../docs/compilation.md) with details of this distribution.
+# 
+# When a user builds better-sqlite3, the following steps are taken:
+# 1. node-gyp loads the previously exported compile-time options (defines.gypi).
+# 2. the extract.js script unpacks the bundled amalgamation (sqlite3.tar.gz).
+# 3. node-gyp compiles the extracted sqlite3.c along with better_sqlite3.cpp.
+# 3. node-gyp links the two resulting binaries to generate better_sqlite3.node.
+# ===
+
 VERSION="3250100"
 YEAR="2018"
 
-echo "downloading source..."
-DEPS="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" >/dev/null && pwd )"
+# TODO: SQLITE_ENABLE_STAT4 (test ANALYZE with stat4 enabled)
+# TODO: SQLITE_ENABLE_GEOPOLY (determine if the emitted warnings are safe or not)
+
+DEFINES="
+SQLITE_THREADSAFE=0
+SQLITE_DEFAULT_MEMSTATUS=0
+SQLITE_LIKE_DOESNT_MATCH_BLOBS
+SQLITE_OMIT_DEPRECATED
+SQLITE_OMIT_TRACE
+SQLITE_OMIT_COMPLETE
+SQLITE_OMIT_GET_TABLE
+SQLITE_OMIT_DESERIALIZE
+SQLITE_OMIT_TCL_VARIABLE
+SQLITE_OMIT_AUTHORIZATION
+SQLITE_OMIT_PROGRESS_CALLBACK
+SQLITE_DEFAULT_CACHE_SIZE=-16000
+SQLITE_DEFAULT_FOREIGN_KEYS=1
+SQLITE_DEFAULT_WAL_SYNCHRONOUS=1
+SQLITE_MAX_ATTACHED=125
+SQLITE_MAX_LENGTH=2147483647
+SQLITE_MAX_SQL_LENGTH=1073741824
+SQLITE_USE_URI=1
+SQLITE_ENABLE_COLUMN_METADATA
+SQLITE_ENABLE_UPDATE_DELETE_LIMIT
+SQLITE_ENABLE_FTS4
+SQLITE_ENABLE_FTS5
+SQLITE_ENABLE_JSON1
+SQLITE_ENABLE_RTREE
+SQLITE_INTROSPECTION_PRAGMAS
+SQLITE_SOUNDEX
+"
+
+# ========== START SCRIPT ========== #
+
+echo "setting up environment..."
+DEPS="$(CDPATH= cd -- "$(dirname -- "$0")" && pwd)"
 TEMP="$DEPS/temp"
 rm -rf "$TEMP"
 mkdir -p "$TEMP"
-curl -#f "https://www.sqlite.org/$YEAR/sqlite-src-$VERSION.zip" > "$TEMP/temp.zip" || exit 1
+export CFLAGS=`echo $(echo "$DEFINES" | sed -e "/^\s*$/d" -e "s/^/-D/")`
+
+echo "downloading source..."
+curl -#f "https://www.sqlite.org/$YEAR/sqlite-src-$VERSION.zip" > "$TEMP/source.zip" || exit 1
+
 echo "extracting source..."
-unzip "$TEMP/temp.zip" -d "$TEMP" > /dev/null || exit 1
+unzip "$TEMP/source.zip" -d "$TEMP" > /dev/null || exit 1
 cd "$TEMP/sqlite-src-$VERSION"
 
 echo "configuring amalgamation..."
@@ -22,11 +78,23 @@ make sqlite3.c > /dev/null || exit 1
 echo "generating tarball..."
 tar czf "$DEPS/sqlite3.tar.gz" sqlite3.c sqlite3.h sqlite3ext.h || exit 1
 
-echo "cleaning up..."
-cd - > /dev/null
-rm -rf "$TEMP"
+echo "updating gyp configs..."
+GYP="$DEPS/defines.gypi"
+printf "# THIS FILE IS AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED (DO NOT EDIT)\n\n{\n  'target_defaults': {\n    'defines': [\n" > "$GYP"
+printf "$DEFINES" | sed -e "/^\s*$/d" -e "s/\(.*\)/      '\1',/" >> "$GYP"
+printf "    ],\n  },\n}\n" >> "$GYP"
+
+echo "updating docs..."
+DOCS="$DEPS/../docs/compilation.md"
 MAJOR=`expr "${VERSION:0:1}" + 0`
 MINOR=`expr "${VERSION:1:2}" + 0`
 PATCH=`expr "${VERSION:3:2}" + 0`
-sed -Ei "" -e "s/version [0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+/version $MAJOR.$MINOR.$PATCH/g" "$DEPS/../docs/compilation.md"
+sed -Ei "" -e "s/version [0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+/version $MAJOR.$MINOR.$PATCH/g" "$DOCS"
+sed -i "" -e "/^- SQLITE_/,\$d" "$DOCS"
+printf "$DEFINES" | sed -e "/^\s*$/d" -e "s/^/- /" >> "$DOCS"
+
+echo "cleaning up..."
+cd - > /dev/null
+rm -rf "$TEMP"
+
 echo "done!"
diff --git a/deps/extract.js b/deps/extract.js
index c791544bd..3a0990d4b 100644
--- a/deps/extract.js
+++ b/deps/extract.js
@@ -2,10 +2,15 @@
 const path = require('path');
 const tar = require('tar');
 
-const source = path.join(__dirname, process.argv[2]);
-const dest = process.argv[3];
+const source = path.join(__dirname, 'sqlite3.tar.gz');
+const dest = process.argv[2];
 
 process.on('unhandledRejection', (err) => { throw err; });
 
+/*
+	This extracts the bundled sqlite3.tar.gz file and places the resulting files
+	into the directory specified by <$2>.
+ */
+
 tar.extract({ file: source, cwd: dest, onwarn: process.emitWarning })
 	.then(() => process.exit(0));
diff --git a/deps/sqlite3.gyp b/deps/sqlite3.gyp
index 7ba59a4f7..1edcdd2d8 100755
--- a/deps/sqlite3.gyp
+++ b/deps/sqlite3.gyp
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
+# ===
+# This configuration defines options specific to compiling SQLite3 itself.
+# Compile-time options are loaded by the auto-generated file "defines.gypi".
+# Before SQLite3 is compiled, it gets extracted from "sqlite3.tar.gz".
+# ===
+
 {
-  'includes': ['common.gypi'],
+  'includes': ['common.gypi', 'defines.gypi'],
   'target_defaults': {
     'configurations': {
       'Debug': {
@@ -33,13 +39,13 @@
       'hard_dependency': 1,
       'actions': [{
         'action_name': 'unpack_sqlite_dep',
-        'inputs': ['./sqlite3.tar.gz'],
+        'inputs': ['sqlite3.tar.gz'],
         'outputs': [
           '<(SHARED_INTERMEDIATE_DIR)/sqlite3/sqlite3.c',
           '<(SHARED_INTERMEDIATE_DIR)/sqlite3/sqlite3.h',
           '<(SHARED_INTERMEDIATE_DIR)/sqlite3/sqlite3ext.h',
         ],
-        'action': ['node', './extract.js', '<@(_inputs)', '<(SHARED_INTERMEDIATE_DIR)/sqlite3'],
+        'action': ['node', 'extract.js', '<(SHARED_INTERMEDIATE_DIR)/sqlite3'],
       }],
     },
     {
@@ -63,39 +69,6 @@
           '-Wno-sign-compare',
         ],
       },
-      'defines': [
-        # NOTE: when these change, so must /docs/compilation.md
-        'SQLITE_THREADSAFE=0',
-        'SQLITE_DEFAULT_MEMSTATUS=0',
-        'SQLITE_LIKE_DOESNT_MATCH_BLOBS',
-        'SQLITE_OMIT_DEPRECATED',
-        'SQLITE_OMIT_TRACE',
-        'SQLITE_OMIT_COMPLETE',
-        'SQLITE_OMIT_GET_TABLE',
-        'SQLITE_OMIT_DESERIALIZE',
-        'SQLITE_OMIT_TCL_VARIABLE',
-        'SQLITE_OMIT_AUTHORIZATION',
-        'SQLITE_OMIT_PROGRESS_CALLBACK',
-        'SQLITE_DEFAULT_CACHE_SIZE=-16000',
-        'SQLITE_DEFAULT_FOREIGN_KEYS=1',
-        'SQLITE_DEFAULT_WAL_SYNCHRONOUS=1',
-        'SQLITE_MAX_ATTACHED=125',
-        'SQLITE_MAX_LENGTH=2147483647',
-        'SQLITE_MAX_SQL_LENGTH=1073741824',
-        'SQLITE_USE_URI=1',
-        'SQLITE_ENABLE_COLUMN_METADATA',
-        # TODO: test ANALYZE with stat4 enabled
-        # 'SQLITE_ENABLE_STAT4',
-        'SQLITE_ENABLE_UPDATE_DELETE_LIMIT',
-        'SQLITE_ENABLE_FTS4',
-        'SQLITE_ENABLE_FTS5',
-        'SQLITE_ENABLE_JSON1',
-        'SQLITE_ENABLE_RTREE',
-        # TODO: determine if the emitted warnings are safe or not
-        # 'SQLITE_ENABLE_GEOPOLY',
-        'SQLITE_INTROSPECTION_PRAGMAS',
-        'SQLITE_SOUNDEX',
-      ],
     },
   ],
 }
diff --git a/deps/sqlite3.tar.gz b/deps/sqlite3.tar.gz
index 038d753e9..0cd5b4594 100644
Binary files a/deps/sqlite3.tar.gz and b/deps/sqlite3.tar.gz differ
diff --git a/deps/test_extension.c b/deps/test_extension.c
index a6fa5c92e..982446cfb 100644
--- a/deps/test_extension.c
+++ b/deps/test_extension.c
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 #include <sqlite3ext.h>
 SQLITE_EXTENSION_INIT1
 
+/*
+	This SQLite3 extension is used only for testing purposes (npm test).
+ */
+
 static void TestExtensionFunction(sqlite3_context* pCtx, int nVal, sqlite3_value** _) {
 	sqlite3_result_double(pCtx, (double)nVal);
 }