diff --git a/java/crossbuild/build-linux-centos.sh b/java/crossbuild/build-linux-centos.sh
index f2b79480d..d3d5b01c3 100755
--- a/java/crossbuild/build-linux-centos.sh
+++ b/java/crossbuild/build-linux-centos.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 # install all required packages for rocksdb that are available through yum
 ARCH=$(uname -i)
 sudo yum -y install openssl java-1.7.0-openjdk-devel.$ARCH zlib zlib-devel bzip2 bzip2-devel
+sudo yum -y install epel-release-5-4.noarch
+sudo yum -y install snappy snappy-devel
 
 # install gcc/g++ 4.8.2 via CERN (http://linux.web.cern.ch/linux/devtoolset/)
 sudo wget -O /etc/yum.repos.d/slc5-devtoolset.repo http://linuxsoft.cern.ch/cern/devtoolset/slc5-devtoolset.repo