diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index d6536bad..13c0afb7 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,6 @@
-build
+# clangd working space (see emacs+lsp)
+.cache
+# typical cmake build directory (source-tree-nephew)
+.build*
+# symlink to builddir/compile_commands.json;  should be set manually in dev sandbox
 compile_commands.json
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 153acdac..c6c5fcb1 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,8 +4,7 @@ cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
 
 project(xo_distribution VERSION 1.0)
 
-# common XO cmake macros (see github.com:Rconybea/xo-cmake)
-include(xo_macros/xo-project-macros)
+include(cmake/xo-bootstrap-macros.cmake)
 
 xo_cxx_toplevel_options()
 
diff --git a/cmake/xo-bootstrap-macros.cmake b/cmake/xo-bootstrap-macros.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..16644435
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/xo-bootstrap-macros.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+if (("${CMAKE_MODULE_PATH}" STREQUAL "") OR ("${CMAKE_MODULE_PATH}" STREQUAL "prefix"))
+    # default to typical install location for xo-project-macros
+    set(CMAKE_MODULE_PATH ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/share/cmake)
+endif()
+
+message("-- CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}")
+message("-- CMAKE_MODULE_PATH=${CMAKE_MODULE_PATH}")
+
+# needs to have been installed somewhere on CMAKE_MODULE_PATH,
+# (e.g. from xo-cmake with the same value for CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX)
+#
+include(xo_macros/xo-project-macros)