diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 483b8784..85059973 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -4,9 +4,27 @@ SUBDIRS	= lib bin
 
 .PHONY: all
 all:
-	for dir in $(SUBDIRS); do		\
-		$(MAKE) -C $$dir;		\
-	done
+	@echo
+	@echo "********************************"
+	@echo "*** Building shared libxbps  ***"
+	@echo "********************************"
+	@echo
+	$(MAKE) -C lib
+	@echo
+	@echo "********************************"
+	@echo "*** Building shared binaries ***"
+	@echo "********************************"
+	@echo
+	$(MAKE) -C bin
+	@echo 
+	@echo "********************************"
+	@echo "*** Building static binaries ***"
+	@echo "********************************"
+	@echo
+	$(MAKE) -C lib clean
+	$(MAKE) -C bin clean
+	$(MAKE) STATIC=1 -C lib
+	$(MAKE) STATIC=1 -C bin
 
 .PHONY: install
 install:
diff --git a/bin/xbps-bin/Makefile b/bin/xbps-bin/Makefile
index 017457a8..d49ca900 100644
--- a/bin/xbps-bin/Makefile
+++ b/bin/xbps-bin/Makefile
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ include $(TOPDIR)/vars.mk
 
 BIN = xbps-bin
 OBJS = check.o install.o main.o remove.o show-deps.o ../xbps-repo/util.o
-STATIC_LIBS += -lz -lacl -lbz2 -llzma
 
 include $(TOPDIR)/prog.mk
 
diff --git a/bin/xbps-bin/install.c b/bin/xbps-bin/install.c
index 8eb1955b..62a47179 100644
--- a/bin/xbps-bin/install.c
+++ b/bin/xbps-bin/install.c
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ download_package_list(prop_object_iterator_t iter)
 		}
 		printf("Downloading %s-%s binary package ...\n",
 		    pkgname, version);
-		rv = xbps_fetch_file(binfile, savedir);
+		rv = xbps_fetch_file(binfile, savedir, NULL);
 		free(savedir);
 		free(binfile);
 		if (rv != 0) {
diff --git a/bin/xbps-fetch/main.c b/bin/xbps-fetch/main.c
index c6995a06..6f42515d 100644
--- a/bin/xbps-fetch/main.c
+++ b/bin/xbps-fetch/main.c
@@ -1,21 +1,40 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
 #include <xbps_api.h>
+#include "fetch.h"
+
+static void
+usage(void)
+{
+	printf("usage: xbps-fetch [-v] URL\n");
+	exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+}
 
 int
 main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
-	int rv = 0;
+	char flags[8];
+	int c, rv = 0;
 
-	if (argc != 2) {
-		printf("Usage: xbps-fetch [options] URL\n");
-		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+	while ((c = getopt(argc, argv, "v")) != -1) {
+		switch (c) {
+		case 'v':
+			strcat(flags, "v");
+			break;
+		default:
+			usage();
+		}
 	}
+	argc -= optind;
+	argv += optind;
 
-	rv = xbps_fetch_file(argv[1], ".");
+	if (argc != 1)
+		usage();
+
+	rv = xbps_fetch_file(argv[0], ".", flags);
 	if (rv != 0) {
-		printf("xbps-fetch: couldn't download %s!\n", argv[1]);
-		printf("xbps-fetch: %s\n", xbps_fetch_error_string());
+		printf("%s: %s\n", argv[0], xbps_fetch_error_string());
 		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 	}
 	exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
diff --git a/bin/xbps-repo/Makefile b/bin/xbps-repo/Makefile
index e8b8cddf..c5e315cd 100644
--- a/bin/xbps-repo/Makefile
+++ b/bin/xbps-repo/Makefile
@@ -3,6 +3,5 @@ include $(TOPDIR)/vars.mk
 
 BIN =	xbps-repo
 OBJS =	main.o util.o index.o
-STATIC_LIBS += -lz -lbz2 -lacl -llzma
 
 include $(TOPDIR)/prog.mk
diff --git a/doc/README b/doc/README
index 5f6eb8c3..74b0e12b 100644
--- a/doc/README
+++ b/doc/README
@@ -26,16 +26,26 @@ http://code.google.com/p/portableproplib/
 I'm also the human maintaining the portable proplib package. I'd suggest you
 to install it into /usr/local to avoid issues with your distribution packages.
 
-To build the xbps utils, you'll need:
+To build the xbps utils, you'll need for both shared and dynamic:
 
 	* asciidoc (to build the manpages)
+	* libarchive (devel pkg)
+	* proplib (devel pkg)
+	* openssl (devel pkg)
+
+If you only want to build the static binaries, you can pass STATIC=1
+to the make command. You'll need development packages for the ones
+mentioned above as well as the following:
+
+	* attr (devel pkg with static lib)
 	* acl (devel pkg with static lib)
 	* zlib (devel pkg with static lib)
 	* bzip2 (devel pkg with static lib)
 	* xz (devel pkg with static lib)
-	* libarchive (devel pkg with static lib, all features built in)
-	* proplib (devel pkg with static lib, see above)
-	* openssl (devel pkg with static lib)
+
+Please note that when building the static binaries, the static libs
+must match the requirements! please make sure that your installed
+libarchive has all features built in (acl, zlib, bzip2, xz and openssl).
 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  HOW TO USE IT
diff --git a/include/sha256.h b/include/sha256.h
index d83a2ae6..c93b8633 100644
--- a/include/sha256.h
+++ b/include/sha256.h
@@ -44,8 +44,8 @@ typedef struct _SHA256_CTX {
 	uint8_t		buffer[SHA256_BLOCK_LENGTH];
 } SHA256_CTX;
 
-int	SHA256_Init(SHA256_CTX *);
-int	SHA256_Update(SHA256_CTX *, const uint8_t *, size_t);
-char	*SHA256_End(SHA256_CTX *, uint8_t *);
+int	XBPS_SHA256_Init(SHA256_CTX *);
+int	XBPS_SHA256_Update(SHA256_CTX *, const uint8_t *, size_t);
+char	*XBPS_SHA256_End(SHA256_CTX *, uint8_t *);
 
 #endif /* !_SHA2_DIGEST_H_ */
diff --git a/include/xbps_api.h b/include/xbps_api.h
index 9e071dea..68db3d31 100644
--- a/include/xbps_api.h
+++ b/include/xbps_api.h
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ int SYMEXPORT	xbps_configure_all_pkgs(void);
 int SYMEXPORT	xbps_cmpver(const char *, const char *);
 
 /* From lib/download.c */
-int SYMEXPORT	xbps_fetch_file(const char *, const char *);
+int SYMEXPORT	xbps_fetch_file(const char *, const char *, const char *);
 void SYMEXPORT	(*xbps_fetch_start_cb)(const char *, off_t *, off_t *);
 void SYMEXPORT	(*xbps_fetch_update_cb)(off_t *);
 void SYMEXPORT	(*xbps_fetch_end_cb)(void);
diff --git a/lib/Makefile b/lib/Makefile
index 94748344..7d670f3d 100644
--- a/lib/Makefile
+++ b/lib/Makefile
@@ -1,27 +1,10 @@
 include ../vars.mk
 
-INET6	?= yes
-SSL	?= yes
-LIBS	= -larchive -lprop
-
-ifdef SSL
-CPPFLAGS += -DWITH_SSL
-LIBS += -lssl -lcrypto
-endif
-
-ifdef INET6
-CPPFLAGS += -DINET6
-endif
-
-ifdef DEBUG
-CPPFLAGS += -DDEBUG
-endif
-
 LIBMAJOR	= 0
 LIBMINOR	= 0
 LIBMICRO	= 0
 LIBXBPS_SHLIB	= libxbps.so.$(LIBMAJOR).$(LIBMINOR).$(LIBMICRO)
-LIBXBPS_LDFLAGS	= $(LIBS) -shared -Wl,-soname,libxbps.so.$(LIBMAJOR)
+LIBXBPS_LDFLAGS	= -shared -Wl,-soname,libxbps.so.$(LIBMAJOR)
 
 # libfetch
 OBJS = fetch/common.o fetch/fetch.o fetch/file.o fetch/ftp.o fetch/http.o
@@ -32,14 +15,25 @@ OBJS +=	humanize_number.o orphans.o plist.o purge.o register.o remove.o
 OBJS +=	repository.o requiredby.o sha256.o sortdeps.o state.o
 OBJS +=	sync_remote_pkgidx.o unpack.o util.o
 
+ifdef STATIC
+all: libfetch libxbps.a
+else
+LDFLAGS = -lprop -larchive
+ifdef WITH_SSL
+LDFLAGS += -lssl -lcrypto
+endif
 all: libfetch libxbps.so libxbps.a
+endif
 .PHONY: all
 
 libfetch:
 	$(MAKE) -C fetch
 
+%.o: %.c
+	$(CC) $(CPPFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -c $<
+
 libxbps.so: $(OBJS)
-	$(CC) $(LIBXBPS_LDFLAGS) $^ -o $(LIBXBPS_SHLIB)
+	$(CC) $(LDFLAGS) $(LIBXBPS_LDFLAGS) $^ -o $(LIBXBPS_SHLIB)
 	-ln -sf $(LIBXBPS_SHLIB) libxbps.so.$(LIBMAJOR)
 	-ln -sf $(LIBXBPS_SHLIB) libxbps.so
 
@@ -50,7 +44,9 @@ libxbps.a: $(OBJS)
 .PHONY: install
 install: all
 	install -d $(LIBDIR)
+ifdef STATIC
 	install -m 644 libxbps.a $(LIBDIR)
+endif
 	install -m 644 $(LIBXBPS_SHLIB) $(LIBDIR)
 	cp -a libxbps.so $(LIBDIR)
 	cp -a libxbps.so.$(LIBMAJOR) $(LIBDIR)
diff --git a/lib/download.c b/lib/download.c
index b0cc7143..837f07f2 100644
--- a/lib/download.c
+++ b/lib/download.c
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ xbps_fetch_error_string(void)
 }
 
 int SYMEXPORT
-xbps_fetch_file(const char *uri, const char *outputdir)
+xbps_fetch_file(const char *uri, const char *outputdir, const char *flags)
 {
 	struct stat st;
 	struct xferstat xs;
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ xbps_fetch_file(const char *uri, const char *outputdir)
 	struct timeval tv[2];
 	ssize_t bytes_read, bytes_written;
 	off_t bytes_dld = -1;
-	char buf[32768], *filename, *destfile = NULL;
+	char buf[32768], *filename, *destfile = NULL, fetchflags[8];
 	int fd = -1, rv = 0;
 	bool restart = false;
 
@@ -221,7 +221,12 @@ xbps_fetch_file(const char *uri, const char *outputdir)
 		goto out;
 
 	}
-	if ((rv = fetchStat(url, &url_st, "i")) == -1) {
+	memset(&fetchflags, 0, sizeof(fetchflags));
+	if (flags != NULL)
+		strcat(fetchflags, flags);
+	strcat(fetchflags, "i");
+
+	if ((rv = fetchStat(url, &url_st, fetchflags)) == -1) {
 		rv = fetchLastErrCode;
 		goto out;
 	}
@@ -234,7 +239,7 @@ xbps_fetch_file(const char *uri, const char *outputdir)
 	if (restart)
 		url->offset = st.st_size;
 
-	fio = fetchXGet(url, &url_st, "i");
+	fio = fetchXGet(url, &url_st, fetchflags);
 	if (fio == NULL) {
 		rv = fetchLastErrCode;
 		goto out;
diff --git a/lib/fetch/Makefile b/lib/fetch/Makefile
index 966fae6b..e62b4394 100644
--- a/lib/fetch/Makefile
+++ b/lib/fetch/Makefile
@@ -4,6 +4,22 @@ include $(TOPDIR)/vars.mk
 CFLAGS += -Wno-unused-macros -Wno-conversion
 CPPFLAGS += -DFTP_COMBINE_CWDS -DNETBSD -I$(TOPDIR)/include
 
+ifdef WITH_INET6
+CPPFLAGS += -DINET6
+endif
+
+ifdef WITH_SSL
+CPPFLAGS += -DWITH_SSL
+endif
+
+ifdef WITH_DEBUG
+CPPFLAGS += -DDEBUG
+endif
+
+ifdef STATIC
+CFLAGS += -static
+endif
+
 OBJS= fetch.o common.o ftp.o http.o file.o
 INCS= common.h
 GEN = ftperr.h httperr.h
@@ -12,7 +28,7 @@ GEN = ftperr.h httperr.h
 all: $(OBJS)
 
 %.o: %.c $(INCS) $(GEN)
-	$(CC) $(CPPFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) -c $<
+	$(CC) $(CPPFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -c $<
 
 ftperr.h: ftp.errors
 	./errlist.sh ftp_errlist FTP ftp.errors > $@
diff --git a/lib/sha256.c b/lib/sha256.c
index b73eafc7..2f2f38b5 100644
--- a/lib/sha256.c
+++ b/lib/sha256.c
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ static const uint32_t sha256_initial_hash_value[8] = {
 
 /*** SHA-256: *********************************************************/
 int
-SHA256_Init(SHA256_CTX *context)
+XBPS_SHA256_Init(SHA256_CTX *context)
 {
 	if (context == NULL)
 		return 1;
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ SHA256_Transform(SHA256_CTX *context, const uint32_t *data)
 
 #else /* SHA2_UNROLL_TRANSFORM */
 
-void
+static void
 SHA256_Transform(SHA256_CTX *context, const uint32_t *data)
 {
 	uint32_t	a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, s0, s1;
@@ -298,7 +298,7 @@ SHA256_Transform(SHA256_CTX *context, const uint32_t *data)
 #endif /* SHA2_UNROLL_TRANSFORM */
 
 int
-SHA256_Update(SHA256_CTX *context, const uint8_t *data, size_t len)
+XBPS_SHA256_Update(SHA256_CTX *context, const uint8_t *data, size_t len)
 {
 	unsigned int	freespace, usedspace;
 
@@ -441,7 +441,7 @@ SHA256_Final(uint8_t digest[], SHA256_CTX *context)
 static const char sha2_hex_digits[] = "0123456789abcdef";
 
 char *
-SHA256_End(SHA256_CTX *ctx, uint8_t *buffer)
+XBPS_SHA256_End(SHA256_CTX *ctx, uint8_t *buffer)
 {
 	uint8_t digest[SHA256_DIGEST_LENGTH], *d = digest;
 	uint8_t *ret;
diff --git a/lib/sync_remote_pkgidx.c b/lib/sync_remote_pkgidx.c
index d127be15..99c6502d 100644
--- a/lib/sync_remote_pkgidx.c
+++ b/lib/sync_remote_pkgidx.c
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ xbps_sync_repository_pkg_index(const char *uri)
 		free(lrepodir);
 		return errno;
 	}
-	rv = xbps_fetch_file(rpidx, lrepodir);
+	rv = xbps_fetch_file(rpidx, lrepodir, NULL);
 
 	free(rpidx);
 	free(lrepodir);
diff --git a/lib/util.c b/lib/util.c
index 6a86fe42..5f8ed3fa 100644
--- a/lib/util.c
+++ b/lib/util.c
@@ -53,10 +53,10 @@ xbps_get_file_hash(const char *file)
 	if ((fd = open(file, O_RDONLY)) == -1)
 		return NULL;
 
-	SHA256_Init(&ctx);
+	XBPS_SHA256_Init(&ctx);
 	while ((bytes = read(fd, buf, sizeof(buf))) > 0)
-		SHA256_Update(&ctx, buf, (size_t)bytes);
-	hash = strdup(SHA256_End(&ctx, digest));
+		XBPS_SHA256_Update(&ctx, buf, (size_t)bytes);
+	hash = strdup(XBPS_SHA256_End(&ctx, digest));
 	(void)close(fd);
 
 	return hash;
diff --git a/prog.mk b/prog.mk
index 0aa8e5ab..6b570d2d 100644
--- a/prog.mk
+++ b/prog.mk
@@ -1,29 +1,35 @@
-BIN_STATIC  ?= $(BIN).static
 OBJS ?=	main.o
 MAN ?= $(BIN).8
 
-all: $(BIN) $(BIN_STATIC) $(MAN)
+ifdef STATIC
+all: $(BIN).static
+else
+LDFLAGS = -lxbps
+all: $(BIN) $(MAN)
+endif
+
 .PHONY: all
 
 $(MAN):
 	a2x -f manpage $(MAN).txt
 
-$(BIN_STATIC): $(OBJS)
-	$(CC) -static $^ $(LDFLAGS) $(STATIC_LIBS) -o $@
+$(BIN).static: $(OBJS)
+	$(CC) $^ -static -lxbps $(LDFLAGS) -o $@
 
 $(BIN): $(OBJS)
 	$(CC) $^ $(LDFLAGS) -o $@
 
 .PHONY: clean
 clean:
-	-rm -f $(BIN) $(BIN_STATIC) $(MAN)
+	-rm -f $(BIN) $(MAN)
+	-rm -f $(BIN).static
 	-rm -f $(OBJS)
 
 .PHONY: install
-install: $(BIN) $(BIN_STATIC) $(MAN)
+install: $(BIN) $(MAN)
 	install -d $(SBINDIR)
 	install $(INSTALL_STRIPPED) -m 755 $(BIN) $(SBINDIR)
-	install $(INSTALL_STRIPPED) -m 755 $(BIN_STATIC) $(SBINDIR)
+	install $(INSTALL_STRIPPED) -m 755 $(BIN).static $(SBINDIR)
 ifdef MAN
 	install -d $(MANDIR)
 	install -m 644 $(MAN) $(MANDIR)
@@ -31,4 +37,5 @@ endif
 
 .PHONY: uninstall
 uninstall:
-	-rm -f $(SBINDIR)/$(BIN) $(SBINDIR)/$(BIN_STATIC)
+	-rm -f $(SBINDIR)/$(BIN)
+	-rm -f $(SBINDIR)/$(BIN).static
diff --git a/vars.mk b/vars.mk
index 8e1cb0d2..c0927300 100644
--- a/vars.mk
+++ b/vars.mk
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 # Common variables.
 
+WITH_INET6 = yes
+WITH_SSL = yes
+
 PREFIX	?= /usr/local
 SBINDIR	?= $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/sbin
 LIBDIR	?= $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/lib
@@ -12,12 +15,19 @@ INSTALL_STRIPPED=
 DEBUG_FLAGS = -g
 endif
 
-STATIC_LIBS ?= -lprop -lpthread -larchive
-LDFLAGS +=  -L$(TOPDIR)/lib -L$(PREFIX)/lib -lxbps
+LDFLAGS =  -L$(TOPDIR)/lib
 CPPFLAGS += -I$(TOPDIR)/include -D_XOPEN_SOURCE=600 -D_GNU_SOURCE
 CPPFLAGS += -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_LARGE_FILES
 WARNFLAGS ?= -pedantic -std=c99 -Wall -Wextra -Werror -Wshadow -Wformat=2
 WARNFLAGS += -Wmissing-declarations -Wcomment -Wunused-macros -Wendif-labels
-WARNFLAGS += -Wcast-qual -Wcast-align -Wstack-protector
-CFLAGS = $(DEBUG_FLAGS) $(WARNFLAGS) -fstack-protector-all -O2 -fPIC -DPIC
-CFLAGS += -fvisibility=hidden
+WARNFLAGS += -Wcast-qual -Wcast-align
+CFLAGS = $(DEBUG_FLAGS) $(WARNFLAGS)
+
+ifdef STATIC
+CFLAGS += -static
+LDFLAGS += -lprop -lpthread -larchive -lssl -lcrypto -ldl -lacl \
+	  -lattr -lcrypto -llzma -lbz2 -lz
+else
+CFLAGS += -fvisibility=hidden -fstack-protector-all -fPIC -DPIC
+CPPFLAGS += -Wstack-protector
+endif