diff --git i/CMakeLists.txt w/CMakeLists.txt
index e87b3c7..c6239f0 100644
--- i/CMakeLists.txt
+++ w/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -118,4 +118,27 @@ install(
     DIRECTORY "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/include"
     DESTINATION "${CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR}/.."
     PATTERN "build2file" EXCLUDE
-)
+)
+
+#
+# Removes the INTERFACE_SOURCES flux::flux property in the flux-targets.cmake
+# file that is there only because of the poor interaction of the 
+# $<BUILD_INTERFACE:...> with the install(TARGETS...) command. The generator
+# creates an empty string instead of no string and the install(TARGETS...) 
+# takes that empty string as a indication that the code should put the source
+# path in as a source file list (why?).
+#
+# The code here gets inserted into near the end of the cmake_install.cmake
+# file. It reads the flux-targets.cmake file into memory, clears the file,
+# then recreates the file skipping the line that contains the malformed
+# INTERFACE_SOURCES property value.
+#
+set(FLUX_TARGETS_FILE "${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/lib/cmake/flux/flux-targets.cmake")
+install(CODE
+   "file (STRINGS \"${FLUX_TARGETS_FILE}\" FLUX_TARGETS_FILE_LINES)
+  file(WRITE \"${FLUX_TARGETS_FILE}\" \"\")
+  foreach(FLUX_TARGETS_FILE_LINE IN LISTS FLUX_TARGETS_FILE_LINES)
+    if (NOT FLUX_TARGETS_FILE_LINE MATCHES \"^[ \t]*INTERFACE_SOURCES[ \t].*$\")
+      file(APPEND \"${FLUX_TARGETS_FILE}\" \"\${FLUX_TARGETS_FILE_LINE}\\n\")
+    endif()
+  endforeach()")