diff --git a/xo-tokenizer2/cmake/xo-bootstrap-macros.cmake b/xo-tokenizer2/cmake/xo-bootstrap-macros.cmake
index 2cf387e5..592272c0 100644
--- a/xo-tokenizer2/cmake/xo-bootstrap-macros.cmake
+++ b/xo-tokenizer2/cmake/xo-bootstrap-macros.cmake
@@ -13,11 +13,19 @@
 
 find_program(XO_CMAKE_CONFIG_EXECUTABLE NAMES xo-cmake-config REQUIRED)
 
-if (("${CMAKE_MODULE_PATH}" STREQUAL "") OR ("${CMAKE_MODULE_PATH}" STREQUAL "prefix"))
+if ("${XO_CMAKE_CONFIG_EXECUTABLE}" STREQUAL "XO_CMAKE_CONFIG_EXECUTABLE-NOT_FOUND")
     message(FATAL "could not find xo-cmake-config executable")
 endif()
 
-if (NOT XO_SUBMODULE_BUILD)
+message(STATUS "XO_CMAKE_CONFIG_EXECUTABLE=${XO_CMAKE_CONFIG_EXECUTABLE}")
+
+if (XO_SUBMODULE_BUILD)
+    if (("${CMAKE_MODULE_PATH}" STREQUAL "") OR ("${CMAKE_MODULE_PATH}" STREQUAL prefix))
+        # local version of xo-cmake macros
+        set(CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/xo-cmake/cmake")
+        message(STATUS "CMAKE_MODULE_PATH=${CMAKE_MODULE_PATH}")
+    endif()
+else()
     if (("${CMAKE_MODULE_PATH}" STREQUAL "") OR ("${CMAKE_MODULE_PATH}" STREQUAL prefix))
         # default to typical install location for xo-project-macros
         execute_process(COMMAND ${XO_CMAKE_CONFIG_EXECUTABLE} --cmake-module-path OUTPUT_VARIABLE CMAKE_MODULE_PATH)