diff --git a/.github/workflows/test_build.yml b/.github/workflows/test_build.yml
index f87e3eb4098..2e3b45a0300 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test_build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test_build.yml
@@ -118,8 +118,6 @@ jobs:
                echo `brew --prefix make  `/libexec/gnubin >> $GITHUB_PATH
                echo `brew --prefix libtool`/libexec/gnubin >> $GITHUB_PATH
                echo `brew --prefix bison`/bin             >> $GITHUB_PATH
-               echo "CPPFLAGS=-I$(brew --prefix)/include -I$(brew --prefix libomp)/include -I$(brew --prefix readline)/include" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-               echo "LDFLAGS= -L$(brew --prefix)/lib     -L$(brew --prefix libomp)/lib     -L$(brew --prefix readline)/lib"     >> $GITHUB_ENV
           fi
 
       - uses: actions/cache@v4
diff --git a/M2/configure.ac b/M2/configure.ac
index aed86c7dd26..ee6029b8135 100644
--- a/M2/configure.ac
+++ b/M2/configure.ac
@@ -352,6 +352,25 @@ AC_SUBST(SIZEOF_INT_P,$ac_cv_sizeof_int_p)
 AC_CHECK_SIZEOF([long])
 AC_SUBST(SIZEOF_LONG,$ac_cv_sizeof_long)
 
+dnl Check for Homebrew packages
+
+AC_CHECK_PROGS([BREW], [brew], [false])
+
+dnl BREW_ADD_FLAG([FORMULA], [DIR], [FLAG], [PREFIX])
+dnl adds PREFIX$(brew --prefix FORMULA)/DIR (if it exists) to FLAG
+AC_DEFUN([BREW_ADD_FLAG],
+    [AS_IF([test "x$BREW" = xbrew -a -d $($BREW --prefix $1)/$2],
+         [$3="$$3 $4$($BREW --prefix $1)/$2"])])
+
+dnl BREW_ADD_FLAGS([FORMULA])
+dnl adds -L$(brew --prefix FORMULA)/lib to LDFLAGS and
+dnl -I$(brew --prefix FORMULA)/include to CPPFLAGS
+AC_DEFUN([BREW_ADD_FLAGS],
+    [BREW_ADD_FLAG([$1], [lib],     [LDFLAGS],  [-L])
+     BREW_ADD_FLAG([$1], [include], [CPPFLAGS], [-I])])
+
+BREW_ADD_FLAGS
+
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS(sys/ioctl.h termios.h sys/mman.h sys/socket.h netdb.h netinet/in.h arpa/inet.h sys/time.h time.h sys/wait.h sys/resource.h io.h linux/personality.h stddef.h elf.h execinfo.h syscall.h math.h pthread.h assert.h alloca.h malloc.h dlfcn.h)
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS(winsock2.h) dnl used with ws2_32.dll under mingw64
 dnl winsock2.h should be included before including windows.h
@@ -577,6 +596,7 @@ AC_COMPILE_IFELSE([AC_LANG_SOURCE([
 dnl Check for openmp and fail if it cannot be found.
 dnl This is required for building the library csdp and good for building the library normaliz
 AC_LANG(C++)
+BREW_ADD_FLAGS([libomp]) # keg-only
 AC_OPENMP
 if test "$ac_cv_prog_cxx_openmp" = unsupported
    then AC_MSG_ERROR([OpenMP does not work, use a compiler that supports OpenMP])
@@ -1238,7 +1258,8 @@ fi
 AC_LANG(C)
 AC_SEARCH_LIBS(tgoto,curses tinfo ncurses,,AC_MSG_ERROR([[not found: library containing symbol tgoto; tried libcurses, libncurses, and libtinfo)]]))
 if test $BUILD_readline = no
-then AC_CHECK_HEADER(readline/readline.h,,BUILD_readline=yes)
+then BREW_ADD_FLAGS([readline]) # keg-only
+     AC_CHECK_HEADER(readline/readline.h,,BUILD_readline=yes)
 fi
 if test $BUILD_readline = no
 then AC_SEARCH_LIBS(rl_set_prompt,readline,,BUILD_readline=yes)