diff --git a/code/CMakeModules/nel.cmake b/code/CMakeModules/nel.cmake
index fbd70c842..d2a5cb014 100644
--- a/code/CMakeModules/nel.cmake
+++ b/code/CMakeModules/nel.cmake
@@ -171,6 +171,7 @@ MACRO(NL_SETUP_DEFAULT_OPTIONS)
     OPTION(WITH_STATIC            "With static libraries."                        OFF)
   ENDIF(WIN32)
   OPTION(WITH_STATIC_DRIVERS      "With static drivers."                          OFF)
+  OPTION(WITH_STATIC_EXTERNAL     "With static external libraries"                OFF)
 
   ###
   # GUI toolkits
@@ -522,6 +523,14 @@ MACRO(SETUP_EXTERNAL)
         STRING(REGEX REPLACE "VC/bin/.+" "VC" VC_DIR ${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER})
       ENDIF(${CMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM} MATCHES "Common7")
     ENDIF(MSVC10)
+  ELSE(WIN32)
+    IF(CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_SUFFIXES AND NOT APPLE)
+      IF(WITH_STATIC_EXTERNAL)
+        SET(CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_SUFFIXES ".a")
+      ELSE(WITH_STATIC_EXTERNAL)
+        SET(CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_SUFFIXES ".so")
+      ENDIF(WITH_STATIC_EXTERNAL AND NOT APPLE)
+    ENDIF(CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_SUFFIXES)
   ENDIF(WIN32)
 
   IF(WITH_STLPORT)