diff --git a/config/opal_setup_java.m4 b/config/opal_setup_java.m4
index 1e2df22358a..87e299535e7 100644
--- a/config/opal_setup_java.m4
+++ b/config/opal_setup_java.m4
@@ -113,8 +113,8 @@ AC_DEFUN([OPAL_SETUP_JAVA],[
                           with_jdk_headers=$opal_java_dir/include
                           with_jdk_bindir=$opal_java_dir/bin
                       else
-                          AC_MSG_WARN([No recognized directory structure found under $opal_java_dir])
-                          AC_MSG_ERROR([Cannot continue])
+                          AC_MSG_WARN([No recognized OS X/macOS JDK directory structure found under $opal_java_dir])
+                          opal_java_found=0
                       fi],
                      [AC_MSG_RESULT([not found])])