diff --git a/lorax.spec b/lorax.spec
index e1364306..fd39bec7 100644
--- a/lorax.spec
+++ b/lorax.spec
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ Requires:       isomd5sum
 Requires:       glibc
 Requires:       util-linux
 Requires:       dosfstools
-Requires:       hfsplus-tools
 Requires:       genisoimage
 Requires:       parted
 Requires:       gzip
diff --git a/src/pylorax/__init__.py b/src/pylorax/__init__.py
index 64924cec..ac00857d 100644
--- a/src/pylorax/__init__.py
+++ b/src/pylorax/__init__.py
@@ -134,6 +134,13 @@ class Lorax(BaseLoraxClass):
 
         assert self._configured
 
+        if domacboot:
+            try:
+                subprocess.check_call("rpm -q hfsplus-tools")
+            except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
+                logger.critical("you need to install hfsplus-tools to create mac images")
+                sys.exit(1)
+
         # set up work directory
         self.workdir = workdir or tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="pylorax.work.")
         if not os.path.isdir(self.workdir):