diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
index 2cfd9173..176a458f 100644
--- a/.gitattributes
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -1,2 +1 @@
 * text=auto
-third_party/* linguist-vendored
diff --git a/cmake/InstallRules.cmake b/cmake/InstallRules.cmake
index 1cead74a..70819c82 100644
--- a/cmake/InstallRules.cmake
+++ b/cmake/InstallRules.cmake
@@ -8,19 +8,8 @@ install(
     "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/include/"     # generated header files
     DESTINATION "${CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR}"
     COMPONENT ${package_name}-development
-    PATTERN "**/third_party"    EXCLUDE  # skip third party directory
-    PATTERN "**/third_party/**" EXCLUDE  # skip third party files
 )
 
-# conditionally copy third party header files to CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR
-if(ASSERT_USE_MAGIC_ENUM)
-    install(
-        FILES "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/include/assert/third_party/magic_enum.hpp"
-        DESTINATION "${CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR}/assert/third_party"
-        COMPONENT ${package_name}-development
-    )
-endif()
-
 # copy target build output artifacts to OS dependent locations
 # (Except includes, that just sets a compiler flag with the path)
 install(
diff --git a/cmake/in/assert-config-cmake.in b/cmake/in/assert-config-cmake.in
index 0fe550aa..e87e6a95 100644
--- a/cmake/in/assert-config-cmake.in
+++ b/cmake/in/assert-config-cmake.in
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
 
 # no dependencies or special setup
 find_package(cpptrace REQUIRED)
+if(ASSERT_USE_MAGIC_ENUM)
+  find_package(magic_enum REQUIRED)
+endif()
 
 # we cannot modify an existing IMPORT target
 if(NOT TARGET assert::assert)