diff --git a/cmake/CMakeLists.txt b/cmake/CMakeLists.txt
index c06bee1ebe..f10392e700 100644
--- a/cmake/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/cmake/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -612,6 +612,12 @@ if(BUILD_LIB)
   set_target_properties(lammps PROPERTIES SOVERSION ${SOVERSION})
   install(TARGETS lammps EXPORT LAMMPS_Targets LIBRARY DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR} ARCHIVE DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR})
   target_include_directories(lammps PUBLIC $<INSTALL_INTERFACE:${CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR}>)
+  option(LAMMPS_CREATE_IN_SOURCES_INCLUDE_DIR "include in-source lammps/ include dir" OFF)
+  if(LAMMPS_CREATE_IN_SOURCES_INCLUDE_DIR)
+    file(MAKE_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/includes)
+    execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E create_symlink ${LAMMPS_SOURCE_DIR} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/includes/lammps)
+    target_include_directories(lammps INTERFACE $<BUILD_INTERFACE:${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/includes>)
+  endif() 
   add_library(LAMMPS::lammps ALIAS lammps)
   install(FILES ${LAMMPS_CXX_HEADERS} DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR}/lammps)
   configure_file(pkgconfig/liblammps.pc.in ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/liblammps${LAMMPS_LIB_SUFFIX}.pc @ONLY)
diff --git a/examples/COUPLE/simple/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/COUPLE/simple/CMakeLists.txt
index c5b6b96edd..f4cf680f61 100644
--- a/examples/COUPLE/simple/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/COUPLE/simple/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,10 +4,8 @@ project(simple CXX)
 set(LAMMPS_SRC_DIRECTORY "" CACHE PATH "Path for lammps source")
 if(NOT LAMMPS_SRC_DIRECTORY STREQUAL "" AND EXISTS ${LAMMPS_SRC_DIRECTORY}/cmake/CMakeLists.txt)
   option(BUILD_LIB "Build LAMMPS library" ON)
+  option(LAMMPS_CREATE_IN_SOURCES_INCLUDE_DIR "include in-source lammps/ include dir" ON)
   add_subdirectory(${LAMMPS_SRC_DIRECTORY}/cmake lammps)
-  file(MAKE_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/includes)
-  execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E create_symlink ${LAMMPS_SRC_DIRECTORY}/src ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/includes/lammps)
-  target_include_directories(lammps INTERFACE $<BUILD_INTERFACE:${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/includes>)
 else()
   find_package(LAMMPS REQUIRED)
 endif()