diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 6a7f0b58b..2eefc415e 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -887,7 +887,9 @@ endif (WIN32)
 #
 # sub-directories
 #
-add_subdirectory (samples)
+if (EXISTS ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/samples AND IS_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/samples)
+  add_subdirectory (samples)
+endif ()
 if (WSJT_GENERATE_DOCS)
   add_subdirectory (doc)
 endif (WSJT_GENERATE_DOCS)
diff --git a/sources.exclude b/sources.exclude
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5c8dd34d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sources.exclude
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+.git
+sources.exclude
+samples