diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 1fc49400b..fdf3954a2 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1490,6 +1490,7 @@ if(NOT MATIO_FOUND)
             endif(CMAKE_VERSION VERSION_LESS 3.2)
             set(MATIO_LIBRARIES ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/matio/lib/${CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_PREFIXES}matio${CMAKE_STATIC_LIBRARY_SUFFIX} ${HDF5_LIBRARIES} ${ZLIB_LIBRARIES} )
             set(MATIO_INCLUDE_DIRS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/matio/include )
+            set(MATIO_LOCAL true)
         endif(HDF5_FOUND)
     endif(ZLIB_FOUND)
 endif(NOT MATIO_FOUND)
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a72c79577..1b513a25e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ $ sudo apt-get install build-essential cmake git libboost-dev libboost-date-time
        libboost-serialization-dev libboost-program-options-dev libboost-test-dev \
        liblog4cpp5-dev libuhd-dev gnuradio-dev gr-osmosdr libblas-dev liblapack-dev \
        libarmadillo-dev libgflags-dev libgoogle-glog-dev libgnutls-openssl-dev libgtest-dev \
-       python-mako python-six
+       python-mako python-six libmatio-dev
 ~~~~~~
 
 Alternatively, and starting from Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, you can install all the required dependencies by adding the line
@@ -495,6 +495,7 @@ $ sudo port install gnutls
 $ sudo port install google-glog +gflags
 $ sudo port install py27-mako
 $ sudo port install py27-six
+$ sudo port install matio
 ~~~~~~
 
 You also might need to activate a Python installation. The list of installed versions can be retrieved with:
@@ -533,6 +534,7 @@ $ brew install cmake hdf5 arpack superlu
 $ brew install armadillo
 $ brew install glog gflags gnutls
 $ brew install gnuradio
+$ brew install libmatio
 $ pip install mako
 $ pip install six
 ~~~~~~
diff --git a/src/tests/unit-tests/arithmetic/matio_test.cc b/src/tests/unit-tests/arithmetic/matio_test.cc
index 8ef276bdc..e49cf7b63 100644
--- a/src/tests/unit-tests/arithmetic/matio_test.cc
+++ b/src/tests/unit-tests/arithmetic/matio_test.cc
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ TEST(MatioTest, WriteAndReadDoubles)
     matvar_read = Mat_VarRead(matfp_read, "x");
     double *x_read = reinterpret_cast<double*>(matvar_read->data);
     Mat_Close(matfp_read);
+    Mat_VarFree(matvar_read);
     for(int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
         {
             EXPECT_DOUBLE_EQ(x[i], x_read[i]);
@@ -84,7 +85,7 @@ TEST(MatioTest, WriteAndReadGrComplex)
     ASSERT_FALSE(reinterpret_cast<long*>(matfp) == NULL) << "Error creating .mat file";
 
     std::vector<gr_complex> x_v = { {1, 10}, {2, 9}, {3, 8}, {4, 7}, {5, 6}, {6, -5}, {7, -4}, {8, 3}, {9, 2}, {10, 1}};
-    const int size = x_v.size();
+    const unsigned int size = x_v.size();
     float x_real[size];
     float x_imag[size];
     unsigned int i = 0;
@@ -126,8 +127,9 @@ TEST(MatioTest, WriteAndReadGrComplex)
         }
 
     Mat_Close(matfp_read);
+    Mat_VarFree(matvar_read);
 
-    for(int i = 0; i < size; i++)
+    for(unsigned int i = 0; i < size; i++)
         {
             EXPECT_FLOAT_EQ(x_v[i].real(), x_v_read[i].real());
             EXPECT_FLOAT_EQ(x_v[i].imag(), x_v_read[i].imag());