diff --git a/.github/workflows/test_and_build.yml b/.github/workflows/test_and_build.yml
index 14c2cd4..046bc72 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test_and_build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test_and_build.yml
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ jobs:
                   if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
                   echo "macOS 10.9 SDK download failed"
                   fi
-                  tar -C /opt -xf MacOSX10.9.sdk.tar.xz
+                  sudo tar -C /opt -xf MacOSX10.9.sdk.tar.xz
                   #conda install -c conda-forge clang_osx-64 clangxx_osx-64 gfortran_osx-64
                   conda build --python=${{matrix.python-version}} conda_recipe/xspec-modelsonly
 
diff --git a/build_local.sh b/build_local.sh
index 4be50a0..ddd0ca1 100755
--- a/build_local.sh
+++ b/build_local.sh
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ elif [[ "$OSTYPE" == darwin* ]]; then
         if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
         echo "macOS 10.9 SDK download failed"
         fi
-        tar -C /opt/SDK/10.9SDK -xf MacOSX10.9.sdk.tar.xz
+        sudo tar -C /opt -xf MacOSX10.9.sdk.tar.xz
 elif [[ "$OSTYPE" == "cygwin" ]]; then
 
         # POSIX compatibility layer and Linux environment emulation for Windows