diff --git a/examples/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/CMakeLists.txt
index 6d3ad5b23..08266da29 100644
--- a/examples/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -29,24 +29,33 @@ MACRO(add_example name)
    TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(${name} dlib )
 ENDMACRO()
 
+# if an example requires GUI, call this macro to check DLIB_NO_GUI_SUPPORT to include or exclude
+MACRO(add_gui_example name)
+   if (DLIB_NO_GUI_SUPPORT)
+      message("No GUI support, so we won't build the ${name} example.")
+   else()
+      add_example(${name})
+   endif()
+ENDMACRO()
+
 # The deep learning toolkit requires a C++11 capable compiler.  
 if (COMPILER_CAN_DO_CPP_11)
    add_example(dnn_introduction_ex)
    add_example(dnn_introduction2_ex)
    add_example(dnn_inception_ex)
-   add_example(dnn_imagenet_ex)
+   add_gui_example(dnn_imagenet_ex)
    add_example(dnn_imagenet_train_ex)
-   add_example(dnn_mmod_ex)
-   add_example(dnn_mmod_face_detection_ex)
-   add_example(random_cropper_ex)
-   add_example(dnn_mmod_dog_hipsterizer)
+   add_gui_example(dnn_mmod_ex)
+   add_gui_example(dnn_mmod_face_detection_ex)
+   add_gui_example(random_cropper_ex)
+   add_gui_example(dnn_mmod_dog_hipsterizer)
 endif()
 
 #here we apply our macros 
-add_example(3d_point_cloud_ex)
+add_gui_example(3d_point_cloud_ex)
 add_example(bayes_net_ex)
 add_example(bayes_net_from_disk_ex)
-add_example(bayes_net_gui_ex)
+add_gui_example(bayes_net_gui_ex)
 add_example(bridge_ex)
 add_example(bsp_ex)
 add_example(compress_stream_ex)
@@ -54,15 +63,15 @@ add_example(config_reader_ex)
 add_example(custom_trainer_ex)
 add_example(dir_nav_ex)
 add_example(empirical_kernel_map_ex)
-add_example(face_detection_ex)
-add_example(face_landmark_detection_ex)
-add_example(fhog_ex)
-add_example(fhog_object_detector_ex)
+add_gui_example(face_detection_ex)
+add_gui_example(face_landmark_detection_ex)
+add_gui_example(fhog_ex)
+add_gui_example(fhog_object_detector_ex)
 add_example(file_to_code_ex)
 add_example(graph_labeling_ex)
-add_example(gui_api_ex)
-add_example(hough_transform_ex)
-add_example(image_ex)
+add_gui_example(gui_api_ex)
+add_gui_example(hough_transform_ex)
+add_gui_example(image_ex)
 add_example(integrate_function_adapt_simp_ex)
 add_example(iosockstream_ex)
 add_example(kcentroid_ex)
@@ -83,12 +92,12 @@ add_example(max_cost_assignment_ex)
 add_example(member_function_pointer_ex)
 add_example(mlp_ex)
 add_example(model_selection_ex)
-add_example(mpc_ex)
+add_gui_example(mpc_ex)
 add_example(multiclass_classification_ex)
 add_example(multithreaded_object_ex)
-add_example(object_detector_advanced_ex)
-add_example(object_detector_ex)
-add_example(one_class_classifiers_ex)
+add_gui_example(object_detector_advanced_ex)
+add_gui_example(object_detector_ex)
+add_gui_example(one_class_classifiers_ex)
 add_example(optimization_ex)
 add_example(parallel_for_ex)
 add_example(pipe_ex)
@@ -106,7 +115,7 @@ add_example(server_iostream_ex)
 add_example(sockets_ex)
 add_example(sockstreambuf_ex)
 add_example(std_allocator_ex)
-add_example(surf_ex)
+add_gui_example(surf_ex)
 add_example(svm_c_ex)
 add_example(svm_ex)
 add_example(svm_pegasos_ex)
@@ -119,21 +128,25 @@ add_example(thread_pool_ex)
 add_example(threaded_object_ex)
 add_example(threads_ex)
 add_example(timer_ex)
-add_example(train_object_detector)
+add_gui_example(train_object_detector)
 add_example(train_shape_predictor_ex)
 add_example(using_custom_kernels_ex)
-add_example(video_tracking_ex)
+add_gui_example(video_tracking_ex)
 add_example(xml_parser_ex)
 
 
-find_package(OpenCV QUIET)
-if (OpenCV_FOUND)
-   include_directories(${OpenCV_INCLUDE_DIRS})
-
-   ADD_EXECUTABLE(webcam_face_pose_ex webcam_face_pose_ex.cpp)
-   TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(webcam_face_pose_ex dlib ${OpenCV_LIBS} )
+if (DLIB_NO_GUI_SUPPORT)
+   message("No GUI support, so we won't build the webcam_face_pose_ex example.")
 else()
-   message("OpenCV not found, so we won't build the webcam_face_pose_ex example.")
+   find_package(OpenCV QUIET)
+   if (OpenCV_FOUND)
+      include_directories(${OpenCV_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+
+      ADD_EXECUTABLE(webcam_face_pose_ex webcam_face_pose_ex.cpp)
+      TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(webcam_face_pose_ex dlib ${OpenCV_LIBS} )
+   else()
+      message("OpenCV not found, so we won't build the webcam_face_pose_ex example.")
+   endif()
 endif()