diff --git a/build/premake4.lua b/build/premake4.lua
index c39b9b7..d1559f7 100644
--- a/build/premake4.lua
+++ b/build/premake4.lua
@@ -150,7 +150,12 @@
     trigger     = "only-double",
 	description = "Only use double-precision math"
   }
-  
+
+  newoption {
+    trigger     = "static-runtime",
+	description = "Perform a static link against the standard runtime libraries"
+  }
+
   -- always clean all of the optional components and toolsets
   if _ACTION == "clean" then
     _OPTIONS["with-demos"] = ""
@@ -253,7 +258,11 @@
     configuration { "vs2002 or vs2003", "*Lib" }
       flags  { "StaticRuntime" }
 
-
+    -- optionally enable StaticRuntime
+    if _OPTIONS["static-runtime"] then
+      configuration { "*" }
+        flags  { "StaticRuntime" }
+    end
 
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 -- The demo projects, automated from list above. These go first so
