diff --git a/meta/conf/distro/include/no-static-libs.inc b/meta/conf/distro/include/no-static-libs.inc
index 7c165c717f..7fd578b3ce 100644
--- a/meta/conf/distro/include/no-static-libs.inc
+++ b/meta/conf/distro/include/no-static-libs.inc
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-DISABLE_STATIC = " --disable-static"
+DISABLE_STATIC ?= " --disable-static"
 
 # qemu aborts on unrecognised option
 DISABLE_STATIC_pn-qemu = ""