diff --git a/cmake/CMakeLists.txt b/cmake/CMakeLists.txt
index dec20095ca..6a0b6b7cc9 100644
--- a/cmake/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/cmake/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -644,19 +644,15 @@ if(BUILD_TOOLS)
 endif()
 
 if(BUILD_LAMMPS_SHELL)
-  include(FindPkgConfig)
-  pkg_check_modules(READLINE IMPORTED_TARGET readline)
-  if(PKG_CONFIG_FOUND AND READLINE_FOUND)
-    if(NOT LAMMPS_EXCEPTIONS)
-      message(WARNING "The LAMMPS shell needs LAMMPS_EXCEPTIONS enabled for full functionality")
-    endif()
-    add_executable(lammps-shell ${LAMMPS_TOOLS_DIR}/lammps-shell/lammps-shell.cpp)
-    target_compile_definitions(lammps-shell PRIVATE -DLAMMPS_LIB_NO_MPI)
-    target_link_libraries(lammps-shell PRIVATE lammps;PkgConfig::READLINE)
-    install(TARGETS lammps-shell DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR})
-  else()
-    message(FATAL_ERROR "pkg-config and readline library not found. Cannot build LAMMPS shell")
+  find_package(PkgConfig REQUIRED)
+  pkg_check_modules(READLINE IMPORTED_TARGET REQUIRED readline)
+  if(NOT LAMMPS_EXCEPTIONS)
+    message(WARNING "The LAMMPS shell needs LAMMPS_EXCEPTIONS enabled for full functionality")
   endif()
+  add_executable(lammps-shell ${LAMMPS_TOOLS_DIR}/lammps-shell/lammps-shell.cpp)
+  target_compile_definitions(lammps-shell PRIVATE -DLAMMPS_LIB_NO_MPI)
+  target_link_libraries(lammps-shell PRIVATE lammps PkgConfig::READLINE)
+  install(TARGETS lammps-shell EXPORT LAMMPS_Targets DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR})
 endif()
 
 include(Documentation)