diff --git a/CMake.README b/CMake.README
index d550b235..5c8112d9 100644
--- a/CMake.README
+++ b/CMake.README
@@ -56,56 +56,9 @@ Give the path to BOOST_ROOT using commandline:
 cmake -DBOOST_ROOT=C:/BOOST ..
 
 
-No find_package(XercesC)?
-------------------------
-There is no official FindXercesC.cmake script in the CMake distribution. If needed I can send you the
-one I have written for our project.
+Installing packages on Debian-derived systems
+----------------------------------------
 
-Which other worskspaces can be generated by cmake?
--------------------------------------------------
-Just run cmake without options and look at the list of available generators:
-On Windows:
-The following generators are available on this platform:
-  Borland Makefiles           = Generates Borland makefiles.
-  MSYS Makefiles              = Generates MSYS makefiles.
-  MinGW Makefiles             = Generates a make file for use with
-                                mingw32-make.
-  NMake Makefiles             = Generates NMake makefiles.
-  NMake Makefiles JOM         = Generates JOM makefiles.
-  Ninja                       = Generates build.ninja files (experimental).
-  Unix Makefiles              = Generates standard UNIX makefiles.
-  Visual Studio 10            = Generates Visual Studio 10 project files.
-  Visual Studio 10 IA64       = Generates Visual Studio 10 Itanium project
-                                files.
-  Visual Studio 10 Win64      = Generates Visual Studio 10 Win64 project
-                                files.
-  Visual Studio 11            = Generates Visual Studio 11 project files.
-  Visual Studio 11 ARM        = Generates Visual Studio 11 ARM project files.
-  Visual Studio 11 Win64      = Generates Visual Studio 11 Win64 project
-                                files.
-  Visual Studio 6             = Generates Visual Studio 6 project files.
-  Visual Studio 7             = Generates Visual Studio .NET 2002 project
-                                files.
-  Visual Studio 7 .NET 2003   = Generates Visual Studio .NET 2003 project
-                                files.
-  Visual Studio 8 2005        = Generates Visual Studio .NET 2005 project
-                                files.
-  Visual Studio 8 2005 Win64  = Generates Visual Studio .NET 2005 Win64
-                                project files.
-  Visual Studio 9 2008        = Generates Visual Studio 9 2008 project files.
-  Visual Studio 9 2008 IA64   = Generates Visual Studio 9 2008 Itanium
-                                project files.
-  Visual Studio 9 2008 Win64  = Generates Visual Studio 9 2008 Win64 project
-                                files.
-  Watcom WMake                = Generates Watcom WMake makefiles.
-  CodeBlocks - MinGW Makefiles= Generates CodeBlocks project files.
-  CodeBlocks - NMake Makefiles= Generates CodeBlocks project files.
-  CodeBlocks - Ninja          = Generates CodeBlocks project files.
-  CodeBlocks - Unix Makefiles = Generates CodeBlocks project files.
-  Eclipse CDT4 - MinGW Makefiles
-                              = Generates Eclipse CDT 4.0 project files.
-  Eclipse CDT4 - NMake Makefiles
-                              = Generates Eclipse CDT 4.0 project files.
-  Eclipse CDT4 - Ninja        = Generates Eclipse CDT 4.0 project files.
-  Eclipse CDT4 - Unix Makefiles
-                              = Generates Eclipse CDT 4.0 project files.
\ No newline at end of file
+apt install libexpat-dev
+apt install libxml2-dev
+apt install libxerces-c-dev
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 41ca7b52..f96b3dd9 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ if(NOT ARABICA_XML_BACKEND)
   elseif(APPLE)
     set(ARABICA_XML_BACKEND USE_LIBXML2)
   else()
-    set(ARABICA_XML_BACKEND USE_EXPAT)
+    set(ARABICA_XML_BACKEND USE_XERCES)
   endif()
 endif()
 
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ if(ARABICA_XML_BACKEND STREQUAL USE_EXPAT)
   else()
     # set externally
     set(ADDITIONAL_INC ${EXPAT_INCLUDE_DIRS})
-    set(ADDITIONAL_LIB expat)
+    set(ADDITIONAL_LIB ${EXPAT_LIBRARIES})
   endif()
 endif()
 
@@ -123,11 +123,20 @@ endif()
 # find libxml2: LIBXML2_INCLUDE_DIR LIBXML2_LIBRARIES
 if(ARABICA_XML_BACKEND STREQUAL USE_LIBXML2)
   set(ARABICA_USE_LIBXML2 TRUE)
-  find_package(LibXml2)
-  set(ADDITIONAL_INC ${LIBXML2_INCLUDE_DIR})
+  find_package(LibXml2 REQUIRED)
+  set(ADDITIONAL_INC ${LIBXML2_INCLUDE_DIRS})
   set(ADDITIONAL_LIB ${LIBXML2_LIBRARIES})
 endif()
 
+#
+# find Xerces: XERCES_INCLUDE_DIR XERCES_LIBRARIES
+if(ARABICA_XML_BACKEND STREQUAL USE_XERCES)
+  set(ARABICA_USE_XERCES TRUE)
+  find_package(XercesC REQUIRED)
+  set(ADDITIONAL_INC ${XercesC_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+  set(ADDITIONAL_LIB ${XercesC_LIBRARIES})
+endif()
+
 #
 # platform check
 #
diff --git a/include/SAX/ArabicaConfig.hpp.in b/include/SAX/ArabicaConfig.hpp.in
index 294ea820..47562720 100644
--- a/include/SAX/ArabicaConfig.hpp.in
+++ b/include/SAX/ArabicaConfig.hpp.in
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 #cmakedefine ARABICA_USE_LIBXML2
 
 /* define to build against Xerces */
-#cmakedefine USE_XERCES
+#cmakedefine ARABICA_USE_XERCES
 
 /* define to build using Garden */
 #cmakedefine USE_GARDEN
diff --git a/include/SAX/ParserConfig.hpp b/include/SAX/ParserConfig.hpp
index 4114b217..cdf2db7c 100644
--- a/include/SAX/ParserConfig.hpp
+++ b/include/SAX/ParserConfig.hpp
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 #define DEF_SAX_P msxml2_wrapper
 #endif 
 
-#ifdef USE_XERCES
+#ifdef ARABICA_USE_XERCES
 #include <SAX/wrappers/saxxerces.hpp>
 #undef DEF_SAX_P
 #define DEF_SAX_P xerces_wrapper
diff --git a/src/arabica.cpp b/src/arabica.cpp
index 6ef46bec..9ca84953 100644
--- a/src/arabica.cpp
+++ b/src/arabica.cpp
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 #endif
 #endif
 
-#ifdef USE_XERCES
+#ifdef ARABICA_USE_XERCES
 #include "SAX/wrappers/saxxerces.cpp"
 #ifdef _MSC_VER
 #pragma message("Pulling in Xerces wrappers")