diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 68252ba6a74c45adc73dbd4e18b0afb5c81e5a67..7d1666163bb19c786d9104cbcd9d81731844931b 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ set( CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON )
 set( CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS OFF )
 
 # set default build options
-set( CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -pthread -Wall -Wno-unused-local-typedefs -Wno-unused-variable -Wno-unknown-pragmas" )
+set( CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} ${WITH_CXX_FLAGS} -pthread -Wall -Wno-unused-local-typedefs -Wno-unused-variable -Wno-unknown-pragmas" )
 set( CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG "-g" )
 set( CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE "-O3 -DNDEBUG" )
 # pass -rdynamic only in Debug mode
diff --git a/build b/build
index 67492f02c3c5c90647dceb9c607e9e0f0891d108..9deb12d10a19ec272ed54ee7512580ed7bd4d71b 100755
--- a/build
+++ b/build
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ do
         --with-tools=*                   ) WITH_TOOLS="${option#*=}" ;;
         --with-benchmarks=*              ) WITH_BENCHMARKS="${option#*=}" ;;
         --with-python=*                  ) WITH_PYTHON="${option#*=}" ;;
+        --with-cxx-flags=*               ) WITH_CXX_FLAGS="${option#*=}" ;;
         *                                )
            echo "Unknown option ${option}. Use --help for more information."
            exit 1 ;;
@@ -91,6 +92,7 @@ if [[ ${HELP} == "yes" ]]; then
     echo "   --with-tools=yes/no                   Compile the 'src/Tools' directory. 'yes' by default."
     echo "   --with-python=yes/no                  Compile the Python bindings. 'yes' by default."
     echo "   --with-benchmarks=yes/no              Compile the 'src/Benchmarks' directory. 'yes' by default."
+    echo "   --with-cxx-flags=FLAGS                Additional flags for C++ compiler."
     echo "   --cmake=CMAKE                         Path to cmake. 'cmake' by default."
     echo "   --verbose                             It enables verbose build."
     echo "   --root-dir=PATH                       Path to the TNL source code root dir."
@@ -142,6 +144,7 @@ cmake_command=(
          -DWITH_TOOLS=${WITH_TOOLS}
          -DWITH_PYTHON=${WITH_PYTHON}
          -DWITH_BENCHMARKS=${WITH_BENCHMARKS}
+         -DWITH_CXX_FLAGS=${WITH_CXX_FLAGS}
          -DDCMTK_DIR=${DCMTK_DIR}
 )