diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index a4f5b35ef3..eeb0bb0b8f 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -663,7 +670,7 @@ target_link_libraries( lapacktest
 
 # ----------------------------------------
 # compile tester library
-add_library( tester ${libtest_all} )
+add_library( tester EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL ${libtest_all} )
 target_link_libraries( tester
     magma
     lapacktest
@@ -726,11 +726,12 @@ foreach( filename ${testing_all} )
         list( APPEND testing_all_cpp ${filename} )
     endif()
 endforeach()
+set(testing_all_cpp "")
 foreach( TEST ${testing_all_cpp} )
     string( REGEX REPLACE "\\.(cpp|f90|F90)" "" EXE ${TEST} )
     string( REGEX REPLACE "testing/" "" EXE ${EXE} )
     #message( "${TEST} --> ${EXE}" )
-    add_executable( ${EXE} ${TEST} )
+    add_executable( ${EXE} EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL ${TEST} )
     target_link_libraries( ${EXE} tester lapacktest magma )
     list( APPEND testing ${EXE} )
 endforeach()
@@ -749,6 +750,7 @@ endif()
 
 set( CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "${SPARSE_TEST_DIR}" )
 cmake_policy( SET CMP0037 OLD)
+set(sparse_testing_all "")
 foreach( TEST ${sparse_testing_all} )
     string( REGEX REPLACE "\\.(cpp|f90|F90)"     "" EXE ${TEST} )
     string( REGEX REPLACE "${SPARSE_TEST_DIR}/" "" EXE ${EXE} )