diff --git a/cmake/sqlite3.cmake b/cmake/sqlite3.cmake
index c07f1161..cbe17c6d 100644
--- a/cmake/sqlite3.cmake
+++ b/cmake/sqlite3.cmake
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ if (NOT SQLITE3_FOUND)
         set(SQLITE3_INCLUDE_DIRS "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/sqlite3")
         set(SQLITE3_LDFLAGS sqlite3_static)
     else()
-        message(FATAL_ERROR "  no sqlite3 in source tree")
+        message(STATUS "  no sqlite3 in source tree")
     endif()
 endif()
 
diff --git a/tools/hsbench/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/hsbench/CMakeLists.txt
index 25a833d0..3b9a73f7 100644
--- a/tools/hsbench/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tools/hsbench/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
 include (${CMAKE_MODULE_PATH}/sqlite3.cmake)
+if (NOT SQLITE3_FOUND)
+    message(STATUS "sqlite3 not found, not building hsbench")
+    return()
+endif()
 
 if (NOT XCODE)
     include_directories(SYSTEM ${SQLITE3_INCLUDE_DIRS})