diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 3e6aefd7a..c57fb9e55 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -427,12 +427,10 @@ if(XRT_HAVE_OPENGLES AND NOT XRT_HAVE_EGL)
 endif()
 
 if(XRT_HAVE_SDL2)
-	if(NOT DEFINED SDL2_LIBRARIES)
-		if(TARGET SDL2::SDL2-static)
-			set(SDL2_LIBRARIES SDL2::SDL2-static)
-		elseif(TARGET SDL2::SDL2)
-			set(SDL2_LIBRARIES SDL2::SDL2)
-		endif()
+	if(NOT TARGET SDL2::SDL2 AND DEFINED SDL2_LIBRARIES)
+		add_library(SDL2::SDL2 INTERFACE IMPORTED)
+		target_include_directories(SDL2::SDL2 SYSTEM INTERFACE "${SDL2_INCLUDE_DIRS}")
+		target_link_libraries(SDL2::SDL2 INTERFACE "${SDL2_LIBRARIES}")
 	endif()
 endif()
 
diff --git a/src/external/CMakeLists.txt b/src/external/CMakeLists.txt
index 347e5eab0..474bb97d3 100644
--- a/src/external/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/external/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -138,10 +138,8 @@ if(XRT_HAVE_OPENGL)
 		target_link_libraries(
 			xrt-external-imgui-sdl2
 			PUBLIC xrt-external-imgui
-			PUBLIC ${SDL2_LIBRARIES}
+			PUBLIC SDL2::SDL2
 			)
-
-		target_include_directories(xrt-external-imgui-sdl2 PUBLIC ${SDL2_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 		target_include_directories(
 			xrt-external-imgui-sdl2 PUBLIC ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/imgui
 			)
diff --git a/src/xrt/auxiliary/util/CMakeLists.txt b/src/xrt/auxiliary/util/CMakeLists.txt
index 93582a854..5e8347ca1 100644
--- a/src/xrt/auxiliary/util/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/xrt/auxiliary/util/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ if(XRT_FEATURE_DEBUG_GUI)
 
 	if(XRT_HAVE_SDL2)
 		target_link_libraries(
-			aux_util_debug_gui PRIVATE st_gui xrt-external-imgui-sdl2 ${SDL2_LIBRARIES}
+			aux_util_debug_gui PRIVATE st_gui xrt-external-imgui-sdl2 SDL2::SDL2
 			)
 
 		if(XRT_BUILD_DRIVER_QWERTY)
diff --git a/src/xrt/compositor/CMakeLists.txt b/src/xrt/compositor/CMakeLists.txt
index cd614dc92..b87965070 100644
--- a/src/xrt/compositor/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/xrt/compositor/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -215,8 +215,7 @@ if(XRT_MODULE_COMPOSITOR_MAIN)
 	endif()
 	if(XRT_FEATURE_WINDOW_PEEK)
 		target_sources(comp_main PRIVATE main/comp_window_peek.c)
-		target_link_libraries(comp_main PRIVATE ${SDL2_LIBRARIES})
-		target_include_directories(comp_main PRIVATE ${SDL2_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+		target_link_libraries(comp_main PRIVATE SDL2::SDL2)
 	endif()
 	if(WIN32)
 		target_sources(comp_main PRIVATE main/comp_window_mswin.c)
diff --git a/src/xrt/drivers/CMakeLists.txt b/src/xrt/drivers/CMakeLists.txt
index 4e994a0a1..a6d5a1d8d 100644
--- a/src/xrt/drivers/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/xrt/drivers/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -70,8 +70,7 @@ if(XRT_BUILD_DRIVER_QWERTY)
 		qwerty/qwerty_prober.c
 		qwerty/qwerty_sdl.c
 		)
-	target_link_libraries(drv_qwerty PRIVATE xrt-interfaces aux_util ${SDL2_LIBRARIES})
-	target_include_directories(drv_qwerty PRIVATE ${SDL2_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+	target_link_libraries(drv_qwerty PRIVATE xrt-interfaces aux_util SDL2::SDL2)
 	list(APPEND ENABLED_DRIVERS qwerty)
 
 	add_library(drv_qwerty_includes INTERFACE)
diff --git a/src/xrt/targets/gui/CMakeLists.txt b/src/xrt/targets/gui/CMakeLists.txt
index 1cf3f5dd3..2aac66147 100644
--- a/src/xrt/targets/gui/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/xrt/targets/gui/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ target_link_libraries(
 		target_instance_no_comp
 		xrt-external-imgui-sdl2
 	)
-target_include_directories(gui PUBLIC ${SDL2_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 if(WIN32)
 	target_link_libraries(gui PRIVATE SDL2::SDL2main)
 endif()
diff --git a/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
index 771e948d4..befe39066 100644
--- a/tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -105,9 +105,9 @@ endif()
 
 if(_have_opengl_test)
 	target_link_libraries(
-		tests_comp_client_opengl PRIVATE comp_client comp_mock aux_ogl ${SDL2_LIBRARIES}
+		tests_comp_client_opengl PRIVATE comp_client comp_mock aux_ogl SDL2::SDL2
 		)
-	target_include_directories(tests_comp_client_opengl PRIVATE ${SDL2_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+	target_include_directories(tests_comp_client_opengl PRIVATE SDL2::SDL2)
 endif()
 
 if(XRT_HAVE_VULKAN AND XRT_HAVE_D3D11)