diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index d6b2eb8cf890474b855d93fd0eec39bd75047e20..76ddde723284a7214cd5e3a29357a2a4262e7bb9 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -538,12 +538,14 @@ _include_search_paths = [
     '/usr/local/include',
 ] 
 foreach idir : _include_search_paths
-    inc_arg = idir
-    _Inc_arg = '-I' + idir
-    if not found and compiler.has_header('gsl/gsl_blas.h',
-                                         args: _Inc_arg)
-        my_incdirs += [inc_arg]
-        found = true
+    if run_command('sh','-c','meson/directory_exists.sh',idir).returncode() == 0
+        inc_arg = idir
+        _Inc_arg = '-I' + idir
+        if not found and compiler.has_header('gsl/gsl_blas.h',
+                                             args: _Inc_arg)
+            my_incdirs += [inc_arg]
+            found = true
+        endif
     endif
 endforeach
 
diff --git a/meson/directory_exists.sh b/meson/directory_exists.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..43fe49a4cde104a0f774d4c066d3d25e58d5bb51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meson/directory_exists.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# return 0 if directory exists, 1 otherwise
+if [[ -d "$1" ]]; then
+    exit 0;
+else
+    exit 1;
+fi