diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index b21ea15..dee09ae 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,11 +4,18 @@ cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.0)
 # set the project name
 project(openFPGALoader VERSION 0.1 LANGUAGES CXX)
 
+option(BUILD_STATIC "Whether or not to build with static libraries" OFF)
+
 ## specify the C++ standard
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 11)
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED True)
 set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG "-g -Wall -Wextra")
 
+if (BUILD_STATIC)
+	 set(CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS "-static-libstdc++ -static")
+	 set(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS OFF)
+endif()
+
 include(GNUInstallDirs)
 # By default: DATA_DIR="/usr/local/share"
 add_definitions(-DDATA_DIR=\"${CMAKE_INSTALL_FULL_DATAROOTDIR}\")
@@ -100,6 +107,10 @@ if(NOT HAVE_ARGP)
 	target_link_libraries(openFPGALoader /usr/lib/libargp.a)
 endif()
 
+if (BUILD_STATIC)
+	set_target_properties(openFPGALoader PROPERTIES LINK_SEARCH_END_STATIC 1)
+endif()
+
 # libftdi < 1.4 as no usb_addr
 if (${LIBFTDI_VERSION} VERSION_LESS 1.4)
 	set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "-DOLD_FTDI_VERSION=1")
diff --git a/INSTALL.md b/INSTALL.md
index b45f9b5..ce44661 100644
--- a/INSTALL.md
+++ b/INSTALL.md
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 ```
 $ mkdir build
 $ cd build
-$ cmake ../
+$ cmake ../ # add -DBUILD_STATIC=ON to build a static version
 $ cmake --build .
 or
 $ make -j$(nproc)
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4fdae31..610dde1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ To build the app:
 ```bash
 $ mkdir build
 $ cd build
-$ cmake ../
+$ cmake ../ # add -DBUILD_STATIC=ON to build a static version
 $ cmake --build .
 or
 $ make -j$(nproc)