diff --git a/Source/cmCoreTryCompile.cxx b/Source/cmCoreTryCompile.cxx
index 0ebe2cde0..c45a8063b 100644
--- a/Source/cmCoreTryCompile.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmCoreTryCompile.cxx
@@ -250,6 +250,20 @@ int cmCoreTryCompile::TryCompileCode(std::vector<std::string> const& argv)
       flag += this->Makefile->GetSafeDefinition("CMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES");
       cmakeFlags.push_back(flag);
       }
+    /* on APPLE also pass CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT to the try_compile */
+    if(this->Makefile->GetDefinition("CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT")!=0)
+      {
+      std::string flag="-DCMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT=";
+      flag += this->Makefile->GetSafeDefinition("CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT");
+      cmakeFlags.push_back(flag);
+      }
+    /* on APPLE also pass CMAKE_OSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET to the try_compile */
+    if(this->Makefile->GetDefinition("CMAKE_OSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET")!=0)
+      {
+      std::string flag="-DCMAKE_OSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=";
+      flag += this->Makefile->GetSafeDefinition("CMAKE_OSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET");
+      cmakeFlags.push_back(flag);
+      }
 
     fprintf(fout, "ADD_EXECUTABLE(cmTryCompileExec \"%s\")\n",source.c_str());
     fprintf(fout,