diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 29a5194..4c9e28e 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ set(META_APP_URL "https://github.com/${META_APP_AUTHOR}/${META_PROJECT_NAME}")
 set(META_APP_DESCRIPTION "Useful C++ classes and routines such as argument parser, IO and conversion utilities")
 set(META_VERSION_MAJOR 5)
 set(META_VERSION_MINOR 11)
-set(META_VERSION_PATCH 1)
+set(META_VERSION_PATCH 2)
 
 # find required 3rd party libraries
 include(3rdParty)
diff --git a/cmake/modules/3rdParty.cmake b/cmake/modules/3rdParty.cmake
index f843536..297fa0b 100644
--- a/cmake/modules/3rdParty.cmake
+++ b/cmake/modules/3rdParty.cmake
@@ -418,7 +418,13 @@ if (META_PROJECT_IS_LIBRARY)
     if (ENABLE_DEVEL_DEFAULTS AND CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Linux")
         set(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS_BY_DEFAULT ON)
     endif ()
-    option(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS "whether to build shared or static libraries" "${BUILD_SHARED_LIBS_BY_DEFAULT}")
+    if (DEFINED CACHE{${META_PROJECT_VARNAME}_BUILD_SHARED_LIBS})
+        # allow overriding BUILD_SHARED_LIBS via a project-specific cache variable
+        set(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS "${${META_PROJECT_VARNAME}_BUILD_SHARED_LIBS}")
+    else ()
+        # make BUILD_SHARED_LIBS an overridable cache variable
+        option(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS "whether to build shared or static libraries" "${BUILD_SHARED_LIBS_BY_DEFAULT}")
+    endif ()
     option(
         STATIC_LIBRARY_LINKAGE
         "prefer linking against dependencies statically; adds additional flags for static linkage; only applies when building shared libraries"