diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index 2bbdc11..538b9a3 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 export CC=/usr/bin/clang
 export CXX=/usr/bin/clang++
 
+TOPDIR=$(pwd)
+
 cd 3rdparty
 if [ ! -d ravenna-alsa-lkm.git ]; then
   git clone https://bitbucket.org/MergingTechnologies/ravenna-alsa-lkm.git
@@ -44,7 +46,7 @@ cd ..
 
 cd daemon
 echo "Building aes67-daemon ..."
-cmake -DWITH_AVAHI=ON .
+cmake -DCPP_HTTPLIB_DIR="$TOPDIR"/3rdparty/cpp-httplib -DRAVENNA_ALSA_LKM_DIR="$TOPDIR"/3rdparty/ravenna-alsa-lkm -DENABLE_TESTS=ON -DWITH_AVAHI=ON .
 make
 cd ..
 
diff --git a/daemon/CMakeLists.txt b/daemon/CMakeLists.txt
index 558acc7..27d74e9 100644
--- a/daemon/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/daemon/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,20 +1,43 @@
 cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.7.0)
+
 project(aes67-daemon CXX)
-enable_testing()
+
+option(ENABLE_TESTS "Enable tests. Not recommended when cross-compiling." OFF)
+if( ENABLE_TESTS )
+    enable_testing()
+endif()
+
 option(WITH_AVAHI "Include mDNS support via Avahi" OFF)
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
-set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "-g -DBOOST_LOG_DYN_LINK -DBOOST_LOG_USE_NATIVE_SYSLOG -Wall")
-set(RAVENNA_ALSA_LKM "../3rdparty/ravenna-alsa-lkm/")
-set(CPP_HTTPLIB " ../3rdparty/cpp-httplib/")
+
+# ravena lkm _should_ be provided by the CLI. Nonetheless, we should be able
+# to find it in system dirs too...
+if ( NOT RAVENNNA_ALSA_LKM_DIR )
+    find_path(RAVENNA_ALSA_LKM_DIR "common/MergingRAVENNACommon.h" REQUIRED)
+endif()
+
+# use sysroot cpp-http lib unless one was explicitly provided  in cmdline
+if ( NOT CPP_HTTPLIB_DIR )
+    find_path( CPP_HTTPLIB_DIR "httplib.h" REQUIRED)
+endif()
+
 find_library(AVAHI_LIBRARY-COMMON NAMES avahi-common)
 find_library(AVAHI_LIBRARY-CLIENT NAMES avahi-client)
 find_path(AVAHI_INCLUDE_DIR avahi-client/publish.h)
 set(AVAHI_LIBRARIES ${AVAHI_LIBRARY-COMMON} ${AVAHI_LIBRARY-CLIENT})
 set(AVAHI_INCLUDE_DIRS ${AVAHI_INCLUDE_DIR})
+
 find_package(Boost COMPONENTS system thread log program_options REQUIRED)
-include_directories(aes67-daemon ${RAVENNA_ALSA_LKM}/common ${RAVENNA_ALSA_LKM}/driver ${CPP_HTTPLIB} ${Boost_INCLUDE_DIR})
+include_directories(aes67-daemon ${RAVENNA_ALSA_LKM_DIR}/common ${RAVENNA_ALSA_LKM_DIR}/driver ${CPP_HTTPLIB_DIR} ${Boost_INCLUDE_DIR})
+add_definitions( -DBOOST_LOG_DYN_LINK -DBOOST_LOG_USE_NATIVE_SYSLOG )
+add_compile_options( -Wall )
 add_executable(aes67-daemon error_code.cpp json.cpp main.cpp driver_handler.cpp driver_manager.cpp session_manager.cpp http_server.cpp config.cpp interface.cpp log.cpp sap.cpp browser.cpp rtsp_client.cpp mdns_client.cpp mdns_server.cpp rtsp_server.cpp utils.cpp)
-add_subdirectory(tests)
+
+if( ENABLE_TESTS )
+    add_subdirectory(tests)
+endif()
+
+
 target_link_libraries(aes67-daemon ${Boost_LIBRARIES})
 if(WITH_AVAHI)
   MESSAGE(STATUS "WITH_AVAHI")
diff --git a/daemon/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/daemon/tests/CMakeLists.txt
index 1f3392a..a106a14 100644
--- a/daemon/tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/daemon/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,10 +1,23 @@
 cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.7.0)
 project(daemon-test CXX)
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
-set(CPP_HTTPLIB " ../3rdparty/cpp-httplib/")
-set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "-g -O3 -DBOOST_LOG_DYN_LINK -DBOOST_LOG_USE_NATIVE_SYSLOG -Wall")
+
+# use sysroot cpp-http lib unless one was explicitly provided  in cmdline
+if ( NOT CPP_HTTPLIB_DIR )
+    find_path( CPP_HTTPLIB_DIR "httplib.h" REQUIRED)
+endif()
+
+# ravena lkm _should_ be provided by the CLI. Nonetheless, we should be able
+# to find it in system dirs too...
+if ( NOT RAVENNNA_ALSA_LKM_DIR )
+    find_path(RAVENNA_ALSA_LKM_DIR "common/MergingRAVENNACommon.h" REQUIRED)
+endif()
+
+add_definitions( -DBOOST_LOG_DYN_LINK -DBOOST_LOG_USE_NATIVE_SYSLOG )
+add_compile_options( -Wall )
+
 find_package(Boost COMPONENTS unit_test_framework filesystem system thread REQUIRED)
-include_directories(aes67-daemon ${CPP_HTTPLIB} ${Boost_INCLUDE_DIR})
+include_directories(aes67-daemon ${CPP_HTTPLIB_DIR} ${RAVENNA_ALSA_LKM_DIR}/common ${RAVENNA_ALSA_LKM_DIR}/driver ${Boost_INCLUDE_DIR})
 add_executable(daemon-test daemon_test.cpp)
 target_link_libraries(daemon-test ${Boost_LIBRARIES})
 add_test(daemon-test daemon-test)