diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index a7a64fef18..288d669077 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -96,11 +96,16 @@ if (APPLE)
   set(CMAKE_OSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET 10.8)
   
   # find the 10.9 SDK path
-  execute_process(COMMAND xcodebuild -sdk -version OUTPUT_VARIABLE XCODE_SDK_VERSIONS)
-  string(REGEX MATCH \\/.+MacOSX10.9.sdk OSX_SDK_PATH ${XCODE_SDK_VERSIONS})
+  find_path(_OSX_DESIRED_SDK_PATH NAME MacOSX10.9.sdk HINTS /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/ ${OSX_SDK_PATH})
+  
+  if (NOT _OSX_DESIRED_SDK_PATH)
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "Could not find OS X 10.9 SDK. Please pass OSX_SDK_PATH to CMake to point us to your SDKs directory.")
+  else ()
+    message(STATUS "Found OS X 10.9 SDK at ${_OSX_DESIRED_SDK_PATH}/MacOSX10.9.sdk")
+  endif ()
   
   # set that as the SDK to use
-  set(CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT ${OSX_SDK_PATH})
+  set(CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT ${_OSX_DESIRED_SDK_PATH}/MacOSX10.9.sdk)
 endif ()
 
 # Find includes in corresponding build directories