diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 2c340398b..347ae1e8e 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ set( CMAKE_BUILD_RPATH
 # the RPATH to be used when installing, but only if it's not a system directory
 list(FIND CMAKE_PLATFORM_IMPLICIT_LINK_DIRECTORIES "${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/lib" isSystemDir)
 if("${isSystemDir}" STREQUAL "-1")
-    set(CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH "${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/lib")
+  set(CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH "${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/lib")
 endif("${isSystemDir}" STREQUAL "-1")
 
 
@@ -49,10 +49,11 @@ list(APPEND CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX})
 # external dependencies
 find_package(PkgConfig REQUIRED)
 set(ENV{PKG_CONFIG_PATH} "$ENV{PKG_CONFIG_PATH}:${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/lib/pkgconfig")
-if(DEFINED FLUX_CORE_PREFIX)
-  set(ENV{PKG_CONFIG_PATH} "${FLUX_CORE_PREFIX}/lib/pkgconfig:$ENV{PKG_CONFIG_PATH}")
-endif()
 find_package(FluxCore REQUIRED)
+if(CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX_INITIALIZED_TO_DEFAULT)
+  message(STATUS "flux core found and no specific prefix specified, using ${FLUX_CORE_PREFIX}")
+  set(CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX ${FLUX_CORE_PREFIX} CACHE PATH "..." FORCE)
+endif()
 find_package(yaml-cpp REQUIRED)
 if(DEFINED ENV{PYTHON})
   set(Python_EXECUTABLE $ENV{PYTHON} CACHE FILEPATH "")
diff --git a/cmake/FindFluxCore.cmake b/cmake/FindFluxCore.cmake
index 5311c765c..3fa175926 100644
--- a/cmake/FindFluxCore.cmake
+++ b/cmake/FindFluxCore.cmake
@@ -1,5 +1,16 @@
-set(saved_PKG_CONFIG_PATH $ENV{PKG_CONFIG_PATH})
-set(ENV{PKG_CONFIG_PATH} ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}:$ENV{PKG_CONFIG_PATH})
+if(DEFINED FLUX_CORE_PREFIX)
+    set(ENV{PKG_CONFIG_PATH} "${FLUX_CORE_PREFIX}/lib/pkgconfig:$ENV{PKG_CONFIG_PATH}")
+else()
+    find_program(FLUX flux
+        HINTS ${FLUX_CORE_PREFIX}/bin ENV PATH)
+    if(FLUX AND NOT FLUX_CORE_PREFIX)
+        get_filename_component(EXTRA_FLUX_CORE_PREFIX_BIN ${FLUX} DIRECTORY)
+        get_filename_component(EXTRA_FLUX_CORE_PREFIX ${EXTRA_FLUX_CORE_PREFIX_BIN} DIRECTORY)
+        set(ENV{PKG_CONFIG_PATH} "${EXTRA_FLUX_CORE_PREFIX}/lib/pkgconfig:$ENV{PKG_CONFIG_PATH}")
+        message(STATUS "flux found in PATH and no specific FLUX_CORE_PREFIX specified, using ${EXTRA_FLUX_CORE_PREFIX}")
+    endif()
+endif()
+
 pkg_check_modules(FLUX_CORE REQUIRED IMPORTED_TARGET flux-core)
 set(FLUX_PREFIX ${FLUX_CORE_PREFIX})
 set(LIBFLUX_VERSION ${FLUX_CORE_VERSION})
@@ -8,7 +19,7 @@ find_program(FLUX flux
     PATHS ${FLUX_PREFIX}/bin ENV PATH)
 
 execute_process(COMMAND $FLUX python -c "import sys; print(\".\".join(map(str, sys.version_info[[:2]])))"
-                OUTPUT_VARIABLE FLUX_PYTHON_VERSION)
+    OUTPUT_VARIABLE FLUX_PYTHON_VERSION)
 
 pkg_check_modules(FLUX_HOSTLIST REQUIRED IMPORTED_TARGET flux-hostlist )
 pkg_check_modules(FLUX_IDSET REQUIRED IMPORTED_TARGET flux-idset )
@@ -30,4 +41,3 @@ add_library(flux-all INTERFACE)
 target_link_libraries(flux-all INTERFACE flux::core flux::hostlist flux::idset flux::optparse flux::schedutil flux::taskmap)
 add_library(flux::all ALIAS flux-all)
 
-set(ENV{PKG_CONFIG_PATH} ${saved_PKG_CONFIG_PATH})
diff --git a/configure-cmake b/configure-cmake
index a8a75d566..355c203c0 100755
--- a/configure-cmake
+++ b/configure-cmake
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-
 # Autotools-style (./configure) wrapper for CMake
 # <https://github.com/nemequ/configure-cmake>
 #
@@ -28,7 +27,7 @@ if [ "${CMAKE_CMD}" = "" ]; then
 fi
 
 BUILD_TYPE="Debug"
-PREFIX=/usr/local
+# PREFIX=/usr/local
 LIBDIR=
 CMAKE_ARGS=
 
@@ -302,8 +301,11 @@ while [ $# != 0 ]; do
     shift
 done
 
-if [ "x${LIBDIR}" = "x" ]; then
-    LIBDIR="${PREFIX}/lib"
+if [ -n "${LIBDIR}" ]; then
+    CMAKE_ARGS="$CMAKE_ARGS -DCMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR=\"${LIBDIR}\""
+fi
+if [ -n "${PREFIX}" ]; then
+    CMAKE_ARGS="$CMAKE_ARGS -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=\"${PREFIX}\""
 fi
 
 # Unlike CFLAGS/CXXFLAGS/CC/CXX, LDFLAGS isn't handled by CMake, so we
@@ -314,4 +316,4 @@ if [ "x${LDFLAGS}" != "x" ]; then
     done
 fi
 
-eval "${CMAKE_CMD}" "${TOP_SRCDIR}" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE="${BUILD_TYPE}" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="${PREFIX}" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR="${LIBDIR}" ${CMAKE_ARGS}
+eval "${CMAKE_CMD}" "${TOP_SRCDIR}" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE="${BUILD_TYPE}" ${CMAKE_ARGS}