diff --git a/cmake/CMakeLists.txt b/cmake/CMakeLists.txt
index f10392e700..b71558338e 100644
--- a/cmake/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/cmake/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -612,12 +612,15 @@ 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() 
+  file(MAKE_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/includes/lammps)
+  foreach(_HEADER ${LAMMPS_CXX_HEADERS})
+    get_filename_component(_HEADER_FILE ${_HEADER} NAME)
+    set(_FULL_HEADER_FILE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/includes/lammps/${_HEADER_FILE})
+    add_custom_command(OUTPUT ${_FULL_HEADER_FILE} COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy_if_different ${_HEADER} ${_FULL_HEADER_FILE} DEPENDS ${_HEADER})
+    add_custom_target(${_HEADER_FILE} DEPENDS ${_FULL_HEADER_FILE})
+    add_dependencies(lammps ${_HEADER_FILE})
+  endforeach()
+  target_include_directories(lammps INTERFACE $<BUILD_INTERFACE:${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/includes>)
   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)