diff --git a/examples/COUPLE/simple/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/COUPLE/simple/CMakeLists.txt
index 507c033d65..5908076df0 100644
--- a/examples/COUPLE/simple/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/COUPLE/simple/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ 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)
-  set(BUILD_LIB ON)
+  option(BUILD_LIB "Build LAMMPS library" ON)
   execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E create_symlink ${LAMMPS_SRC_DIRECTORY}/src ${LAMMPS_SRC_DIRECTORY}/src/lammps)
   add_subdirectory(${LAMMPS_SRC_DIRECTORY}/cmake lammps)
 else()
@@ -11,4 +11,4 @@ else()
 endif()
 
 add_executable(simple simple.cpp)
-target_link_libraries(simple LAMMPS::lammps)
+target_link_libraries(simple LAMMPS::lammps MPI::MPI_CXX)