diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 58c1d0f..8bccb28 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ EXTRA_DIST = \
 	tests/key_encrypted.pem \
 	tests/res_query_dump.c
 
+if EXAMPLES
 ## Examples
 noinst_PROGRAMS = \
 	examples/active \
@@ -165,6 +166,7 @@ examples_uuid_LDADD = $(STROPHE_LIBS)
 examples_vcard_SOURCES = examples/vcard.c
 examples_vcard_CFLAGS = $(STROPHE_FLAGS)
 examples_vcard_LDADD = $(STROPHE_LIBS)
+endif
 
 
 ## Tests
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 701e44c..ed52466 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -35,6 +35,10 @@ AS_CASE([$PLATFORM],
     [haiku],   [],
                [WARNING_FLAGS="$WARNING_FLAGS -Wextra"])
 
+AC_ARG_ENABLE([examples],
+    [AS_HELP_STRING([--disable-examples], [turn off examples])],
+    [case "${enableval}" in yes) examples=true ;; no)  examples=false ;; *) AC_MSG_ERROR([bad value ${enableval} for --disable-examples]) ;; esac],[examples=true])
+AM_CONDITIONAL([EXAMPLES], [test x$examples = xtrue])
 AC_ARG_WITH([libxml2],
     [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-libxml2], [use libxml2 for XML parsing, expat is the default])])
 AC_ARG_WITH([gnutls],