diff --git a/src/detect.sh b/src/detect.sh
index 7fce31d..087c260 100755
--- a/src/detect.sh
+++ b/src/detect.sh
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ ADIOS2_REQ_LIBS="adios2_cxx11 adios2_c adios2_core"
 if [ "$(echo ${ADIOS2_ENABLE_FORTRAN} | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')" = 'yes' ]; then
     ADIOS2_REQ_LIBS="adios2_fortran $ADIOS2_REQ_LIBS"
 fi
+ADIOS2_MPI_LIBS="$ADIOS2_REQ_LIBS"
 if [ "$(echo ${ADIOS2_ENABLE_SST} | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')" = 'yes' ] ; then
     # core depends on adios2_evpath
     ADIOS2_REQ_LIBS="$ADIOS2_REQ_LIBS adios2_evpath adios2_atl adios2_enet adios2_ffs adios2_dill"
@@ -82,7 +83,7 @@ if [ -z "${ADIOS2_BUILD}" -a -z "${ADIOS2_INC_DIRS}" -a -z "${ADIOS2_LIB_DIRS}"
             fi
             if [ $test_mpi -eq 0 ]; then
                 mpi_libs="" # need to prepend MPI libs
-                for lib in $ADIOS2_REQ_LIBS ; do
+                for lib in $ADIOS2_MPI_LIBS ; do
                     mpi_libs="$mpi_libs ${lib}_mpi"
                 done
                 ADIOS2_LIBS="$mpi_libs $ADIOS2_LIBS"