diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index e64061a6b7..5162b86dd4 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -14,6 +14,14 @@ option(ENABLE_PCH "Use PCH to speed up compilation" ON)
 option(ENABLE_PIE "Build a Position-Independent Executable (PIE)" ON)
 option(ENABLE_LTO "Enables Link Time Optimization" OFF)
 option(ENABLE_GENERIC "Enables generic build that should run on any little-endian host" OFF)
+
+# Enable SDL for default on operating systems that aren't OSX, Android, Linux or Windows.
+if(NOT APPLE AND NOT ANDROID AND NOT ${CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME} STREQUAL "Linux" AND NOT MSVC)
+	option(ENABLE_SDL "Enables SDL as a generic controller backend" ON)
+else()
+	option(ENABLE_SDL "Enables SDL as a generic controller backend" OFF)
+endif()
+
 if(APPLE)
 	option(OSX_USE_DEFAULT_SEARCH_PATH "Don't prioritize system library paths" OFF)
 endif()
@@ -632,26 +640,21 @@ if(OPENAL_FOUND)
 	endif()
 endif()
 
-if(NOT ANDROID)
-	if(NOT APPLE)
-		include(FindSDL2 OPTIONAL)
-	endif()
+if(ENABLE_SDL)
+	include(FindSDL2 OPTIONAL)
 	if(SDL2_FOUND)
 		message("Using shared SDL2")
 		add_definitions(-DHAVE_SDL=1)
 		include_directories(${SDL2_INCLUDE_DIR})
 	else(SDL2_FOUND)
 		# SDL2 not found, try SDL
-		if(NOT APPLE)
-			include(FindSDL OPTIONAL)
-		endif()
+		include(FindSDL OPTIONAL)
 		if(SDL_FOUND)
 			message("Using shared SDL")
 			add_definitions(-DHAVE_SDL=1)
 			include_directories(${SDL_INCLUDE_DIR})
 		else(SDL_FOUND)
 			message("SDL NOT found, disabling SDL input")
-			add_definitions(-DHAVE_SDL=0)
 		endif(SDL_FOUND)
 	endif(SDL2_FOUND)
 endif()
diff --git a/CMakeTests/FindSDL2.cmake b/CMakeTests/FindSDL2.cmake
index 614426cccf..aef817ec6a 100644
--- a/CMakeTests/FindSDL2.cmake
+++ b/CMakeTests/FindSDL2.cmake
@@ -172,9 +172,22 @@ IF(SDL2_LIBRARY_TEMP)
   SET(SDL2_LIBRARY_TEMP "${SDL2_LIBRARY_TEMP}" CACHE INTERNAL "")
 
   SET(SDL2_FOUND "YES")
+
+  # extract the major and minor version numbers from SDL2/SDL_version.h
+  # we have to handle framework a little bit differently :
+  if("${SDL2_INCLUDE_DIR}" MATCHES ".framework")
+    set(SDL2_VERSION_H_INPUT "${SDL2_INCLUDE_DIR}/Headers/SDL_version.h")
+  else()
+    set(SDL2_VERSION_H_INPUT "${SDL2_INCLUDE_DIR}/SDL_version.h")
+  endif()
+  FILE(READ "${SDL2_VERSION_H_INPUT}" SDL2_VERSION_H_CONTENTS)
+  STRING(REGEX REPLACE ".*#define[ \t]+SDL_MAJOR_VERSION[ \t]+([0-9]+).*#define[ \t]+SDL_MINOR_VERSION[ \t]+([0-9]+).*#define[ \t]+SDL_PATCHLEVEL[ \t]+([0-9]+).*"
+                       "\\1.\\2.\\3" SDL2_VERSION "${SDL2_VERSION_H_CONTENTS}")
+#MESSAGE("SDL2 Version is ${SDL2_VERSION}")
+
 ENDIF(SDL2_LIBRARY_TEMP)
 
 INCLUDE(FindPackageHandleStandardArgs)
 
 FIND_PACKAGE_HANDLE_STANDARD_ARGS(SDL2
-                                  REQUIRED_VARS SDL2_LIBRARY SDL2_INCLUDE_DIR)
+                                  REQUIRED_VARS SDL2_LIBRARY SDL2_INCLUDE_DIR VERSION_VAR SDL2_VERSION)