diff --git a/build_protoc b/build_protoc
index 47c2a6fd2..d115e8a3e 100755
--- a/build_protoc
+++ b/build_protoc
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ if [ -z $PROTOC] ; then
     PROTOC="protoc"
 fi
 
-command -v $PROTOC >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo >&2 "protoc is required but not installed.  Aborting."; exit 1; }
+command -v $PROTOC >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo >&2 "protoc is required but not installed.  Skipping c protocol buffers"; exit 0; }
 
 # die on error at this point
 set -e