diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index ed0f63ded12f6904cdf5578e8f9f63ed1d67c620..476c97851d6d6f5417d8bda09acc6fb1ee5df90f 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,9 +4,20 @@ project(Pawian)
 set(CXX_STANDARD 17)
 set(CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
 
+if(DEFINED ENV{ROOTSYS})  
+  set(ROOT_INCLUDE_DIRS "$ENV{ROOTSYS}/include")
+  set(ROOT_LIBRARIES "$ENV{ROOTSYS}/lib")
+  MESSAGE(STATUS "found env var ROOTSYS")
+  MESSAGE(STATUS "root include path is: ${ROOT_INCLUDE_DIRS}")
+  MESSAGE(STATUS "root lib path is: ${ROOT_LIBRARIES}")
+else()
+  MESSAGE(STATUS "ROOTSYS not defined using find_package(ROOT)")
+  find_package(ROOT)
+endif()
+
 find_package(Boost)
 find_package(Boost COMPONENTS program_options unit_test_framework serialization filesystem timer REQUIRED)
-find_package(ROOT)
+
 find_package(GSL REQUIRED)
 
 #include_directories(
diff --git a/FitParams/CMakeLists.txt b/FitParams/CMakeLists.txt
index 7a7979373e55874b91661df3c4daf29887e42ac6..97b03d6853fcc815d9c8ee0d7b976cc55760a8ae 100644
--- a/FitParams/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/FitParams/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ target_include_directories(FitParams
 )
 
 target_link_libraries(FitParams  
-  ROOT::Minuit2
+  ${ROOT_LIBRARIES}/libMinuit2.so
 )
 
 install(TARGETS FitParams
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ target_link_libraries(StreamerTestApp
   ConfigParser
   qft++Extension
   ErrLogger
-  ROOT::Minuit2
+  ${ROOT_LIBRARIES}/libMinuit2.so
 )
 
 add_executable(PwaCovMatrixApp
diff --git a/KMatrixExtract/CMakeLists.txt b/KMatrixExtract/CMakeLists.txt
index 1c088fddc6e40a688c21d66a0941b319edad33c9..5f6198e3853afabccaeb21521133534cbfd8e6a3 100644
--- a/KMatrixExtract/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/KMatrixExtract/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ target_include_directories(KMatrixExtract
 )
 
 target_link_libraries(KMatrixExtract    
-  ROOT::Minuit2 
+  ${ROOT_LIBRARIES}/libMinuit2.so 
 )
 
 install(TARGETS KMatrixExtract
diff --git a/MinFunctions/CMakeLists.txt b/MinFunctions/CMakeLists.txt
index 0f8eeee369c71d32e56e022de90f71a0bcaad55c..f3361de9947210be77c76ee38fdf78c25dfc5296 100644
--- a/MinFunctions/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/MinFunctions/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ target_link_libraries(MinFunctions
   PwaDynamics
   PspGen
   PwaUtils
-  ROOT::Minuit2
+  ${ROOT_LIBRARIES}/libMinuit2.so
   ${Boost_LIBRARIES}
 )
 
diff --git a/PwaDynamics/CMakeLists.txt b/PwaDynamics/CMakeLists.txt
index 6156927d32c889a54eb029090fbc6769520091dc..18a06db397afe492014d4f5a897558f2ccdb9de2 100644
--- a/PwaDynamics/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/PwaDynamics/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ target_link_libraries(PwaDynamics
   qft++
   qft++Extension
   ErrLogger
-  ROOT::Minuit2
+  ${ROOT_LIBRARIES}/libMinuit2.so
 )
 
 install(TARGETS PwaDynamics
diff --git a/ggUtils/CMakeLists.txt b/ggUtils/CMakeLists.txt
index 358f59afc54b4d494a9171d2e5dc6440b5e5017d..c6c7efd8dff8eed39918f968414a2c3b9c2c6c88 100644
--- a/ggUtils/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/ggUtils/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ target_include_directories(ggUtils
 )
 
 target_link_libraries(ggUtils
-  ROOT::Minuit2
+  ${ROOT_LIBRARIES}/libMinuit2.so
 )
 
 install(TARGETS ggUtils
diff --git a/gslUtils/CMakeLists.txt b/gslUtils/CMakeLists.txt
index ea99d47864379bc08edaad39dd7167c0489a1a94..0495bd8731e50771ea7bcaa807ab1bf300fbbf0b 100644
--- a/gslUtils/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/gslUtils/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ target_link_libraries(gslUtils
   qft++
   qft++Extension
   ErrLogger
-  ROOT::Minuit2
+  ${ROOT_LIBRARIES}/libMinuit2.so
   GSL::gsl
   GSL::gslcblas
 )