diff --git a/build/sbt b/build/sbt
index cc3203d79bccd..8d1b9b8234248 100755
--- a/build/sbt
+++ b/build/sbt
@@ -20,10 +20,12 @@
 # When creating new tests for Spark SQL Hive, the HADOOP_CLASSPATH must contain the hive jars so
 # that we can run Hive to generate the golden answer.  This is not required for normal development
 # or testing.
-for i in "$HIVE_HOME"/lib/*
-do HADOOP_CLASSPATH="$HADOOP_CLASSPATH:$i"
-done
-export HADOOP_CLASSPATH
+if [ -n "$HIVE_HOME" ]; then
+	for i in "$HIVE_HOME"/lib/*
+	do HADOOP_CLASSPATH="$HADOOP_CLASSPATH:$i"
+	done
+	export HADOOP_CLASSPATH
+fi
 
 realpath () {
 (