diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 577f90e..e8e2f81 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -210,8 +210,9 @@ if (NOT CORRECT_PCRE_VERSION)
 endif()
 
 # we need static libs for Chimera - too much deep magic for shared libs
-if (CORRECT_PCRE_VERSION AND PCRE_BUILD_SOURCE AND BUILD_STATIC_LIBS)
-    set(BUILD_CHIMERA TRUE)
+option(BUILD_CHIMERA "Build Chimera" OFF)
+if (BUILD_CHIMERA AND NOT CORRECT_PCRE_VERSION)
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "Chimera requires PCRE 8.41+")
 endif()
 
 set(RAGEL_C_FLAGS "-Wno-unused -funsigned-char")
diff --git a/chimera/CMakeLists.txt b/chimera/CMakeLists.txt
index c3c50c3..8f1bd3c 100644
--- a/chimera/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/chimera/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -28,8 +28,13 @@ SET(chimera_SRCS
 )
 
 add_library(chimera STATIC ${chimera_SRCS})
-add_dependencies(chimera hs pcre)
-target_link_libraries(chimera hs pcre)
+add_dependencies(chimera hs)
+if (PCRE_BUILD_SOURCE)
+    add_dependencies(chimera pcre)
+    target_link_libraries(chimera hs pcre)
+else()
+    target_link_libraries(chimera hs ${PCRE_LIBRARIES})
+endif()
 
 install(TARGETS chimera DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR})