diff --git a/src/plugins/cmake/gbp-cmake-build-target-provider.c b/src/plugins/cmake/gbp-cmake-build-target-provider.c
index 030a6f76d3365b22eb0935a30da7172e6542cbd4..966f40214e055f67f3e1c159bb873e90e23113b3 100644
--- a/src/plugins/cmake/gbp-cmake-build-target-provider.c
+++ b/src/plugins/cmake/gbp-cmake-build-target-provider.c
@@ -68,6 +68,10 @@ gbp_cmake_build_target_provider_create_target (GbpCmakeBuildTargetProvider  *sel
 
   g_return_if_fail (GBP_IS_CMAKE_BUILD_TARGET_PROVIDER (self));
 
+  /* ignore target if no install rule is present */
+  if (!json_object_has_member (obj, "install"))
+    return;
+
   artefacts = json_object_get_array_member (obj, "artifacts");
   /* currently we support only one artefact executable */
   path_object = json_array_get_object_element (artefacts, 0);