diff --git a/unittest/CMakeLists.txt b/unittest/CMakeLists.txt
index c7f46a7f7b..f5d990d3ed 100644
--- a/unittest/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/unittest/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,14 @@
 include(GTest)
 
+# check if we can run the compiled executable and whether it prints
+# the LAMMPS version header in the output for an empty input
+file(TOUCH ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/in.empty)
+add_test(NAME RunLammps
+         COMMAND $<TARGET_FILE:lmp> -log none -echo none -in in.empty
+         WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR})
+set_tests_properties(RunLammps PROPERTIES
+        PASS_REGULAR_EXPRESSION "^LAMMPS \\([0-9]+ [A-Za-z]+ 2[0-9][0-9][0-9]\\)")
+
 if(BUILD_MPI)
   function(add_mpi_test)
     set(MPI_TEST_NUM_PROCS 1)