diff --git a/cmake/VERSION b/cmake/VERSION
index 269aa9c..ff313b8 100644
--- a/cmake/VERSION
+++ b/cmake/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-3.8.3
+3.8.4
diff --git a/cmake/ecbuild_add_library.cmake b/cmake/ecbuild_add_library.cmake
index c897347..03552be 100644
--- a/cmake/ecbuild_add_library.cmake
+++ b/cmake/ecbuild_add_library.cmake
@@ -228,6 +228,12 @@ function( ecbuild_add_library_impl )
     ecbuild_critical("The call to ecbuild_add_library() doesn't specify the TARGET.")
   endif()
 
+  ### optional override for target type
+  if( NOT DEFINED _PAR_TYPE AND DEFINED ECBUILD_TARGET_${_PAR_TARGET}_TYPE )
+    set( _PAR_TYPE ${ECBUILD_TARGET_${_PAR_TARGET}_TYPE} )
+    ecbuild_debug( "ecbuild_add_libary(${_PAR_TARGET}): library type overriden to ${_PAR_TYPE}" )
+  endif()
+
   if( NOT _PAR_TYPE MATCHES "INTERFACE" )
     if( NOT _PAR_SOURCES AND NOT _PAR_OBJECTS AND NOT _PAR_SOURCES_GLOB )
       ecbuild_critical("The call to ecbuild_add_library() specifies neither SOURCES nor OBJECTS nor SOURCES_GLOB")
diff --git a/cmake/ecbuild_project.cmake b/cmake/ecbuild_project.cmake
index 7145d88..2f908a3 100644
--- a/cmake/ecbuild_project.cmake
+++ b/cmake/ecbuild_project.cmake
@@ -71,6 +71,15 @@ macro( project _project_name )
 
     ecbuild_declare_project()
 
+    ### override BUILD_SHARED_LIBS property
+    if( DEFINED ${PNAME}_BUILD_SHARED_LIBS )
+       if( NOT ${${PNAME}_BUILD_SHARED_LIBS} MATCHES "ON|OFF" )
+          ecbuild_critical( "${${PNAME}_BUILD_SHARED_LIBS} must be one of [ON|OFF]" )
+       endif()
+       set( BUILD_SHARED_LIBS ${${PNAME}_BUILD_SHARED_LIBS} )
+       ecbuild_debug( "ecbuild_project(${_project_name}): static libraries set as default for project" )
+    endif()
+
   else() # ecbuild 2 or pure CMake
 
     ecbuild_debug( "CMake project(${_project_name}) ")
diff --git a/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
index 69d4bed..91b72e5 100644
--- a/tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -8,3 +8,4 @@ add_subdirectory( ecbuild_add_option )
 add_subdirectory( ecbuild_add_flags )
 add_subdirectory( find_ecbuild )
 add_subdirectory( project_import )
+add_subdirectory( ecbuild_shared_libs )
diff --git a/tests/ecbuild_shared_libs/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/ecbuild_shared_libs/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..05ea6e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ecbuild_shared_libs/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+
+ecbuild_add_test(
+  TARGET     test_ecbuild_shared_libs
+  TYPE       SCRIPT
+  COMMAND    ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/build-and-run.sh
+  ENVIRONMENT CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR=${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR=${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
+)
diff --git a/tests/ecbuild_shared_libs/build-and-run.sh b/tests/ecbuild_shared_libs/build-and-run.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..79ed541
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ecbuild_shared_libs/build-and-run.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -e
+
+HERE=${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR:-"$( cd $( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" ) && pwd -P )"}
+SOURCE=${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR:-$HERE}
+
+# Add ecbuild to path
+export PATH=$SOURCE/../../bin:$PATH
+echo $PATH
+echo $SOURCE
+
+check_lib_exists() {
+
+  local libname=$1
+  local ext=$2
+
+  if [ ! -f $HERE/build/lib/lib${libname}.$ext ]; then
+     echo "$HERE/build/lib/lib${libname}.$ext not found"
+     exit 1 
+  fi
+
+}
+
+dyn_ext="so"
+if [[ $(uname) == "Darwin" ]]; then
+  dyn_ext="dylib"
+fi
+static_ext="a"
+
+logf=$HERE/test_ecbuild_shared_libs.log
+
+# enable shared libraries across project
+$SOURCE/clean.sh
+ecbuild -DENABLE_TESTS=OFF -DTEST_SHARED_LIBS_BUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF $SOURCE/test_project -B $HERE/build
+cmake --build build
+check_lib_exists test_shared_libs ${static_ext}
+check_lib_exists lib2 ${static_ext}
+check_lib_exists lib1 ${dyn_ext}
+
+# test that BUILD_SHARED_LIBS is overriden
+$SOURCE/clean.sh
+ecbuild -DENABLE_TESTS=OFF -DTEST_SHARED_LIBS_BUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON $SOURCE/test_project -B $HERE/build
+cmake --build build
+check_lib_exists test_shared_libs ${static_ext}
+check_lib_exists lib2 ${static_ext}
+check_lib_exists lib1 ${dyn_ext}
+
+# test ecbuild failure for invalid argument
+$SOURCE/clean.sh
+ecbuild -DENABLE_TESTS=OFF -DTEST_SHARED_LIBS_BUILD_SHARED_LIBS=SHARED $SOURCE/test_project -B $HERE/build >$logf 2>&1 || result=$?
+if [ ! $result ]; then
+   echo "ecbuild should have failed for invalid argument"
+   cat $logf
+   exit 1
+fi
+
+# enable target specific override 1
+$SOURCE/clean.sh
+ecbuild -DENABLE_TESTS=OFF -DECBUILD_TARGET_test_shared_libs_TYPE=SHARED -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF $SOURCE/test_project -B $HERE/build
+cmake --build build
+check_lib_exists test_shared_libs ${dyn_ext}
+check_lib_exists lib2 ${static_ext}
+check_lib_exists lib1 ${dyn_ext}
+
+# enable target specific override 2
+$SOURCE/clean.sh
+ecbuild -DENABLE_TESTS=OFF -DECBUILD_TARGET_test_shared_libs_TYPE=STATIC $SOURCE/test_project -B $HERE/build
+cmake --build build
+check_lib_exists test_shared_libs ${static_ext}
+check_lib_exists lib2 ${dyn_ext}
+check_lib_exists lib1 ${dyn_ext}
diff --git a/tests/ecbuild_shared_libs/clean.sh b/tests/ecbuild_shared_libs/clean.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..e8210f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ecbuild_shared_libs/clean.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -e
+
+HERE=${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR:-"$( cd $( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" ) && pwd -P )"}
+
+# --------------------- cleanup ------------------------
+echo "cleaning $HERE"
+rm -rf $HERE/build
+rm -f $HERE/*.log
diff --git a/tests/ecbuild_shared_libs/test_project/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/ecbuild_shared_libs/test_project/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6956639
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ecbuild_shared_libs/test_project/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.11 FATAL_ERROR)
+
+find_package( ecbuild REQUIRED )
+project( test_shared_libs VERSION 0.1.0 LANGUAGES Fortran )
+
+ecbuild_add_library( TARGET test_shared_libs SOURCES dummy_src.F90 )
+
+# this should never be overriden
+ecbuild_add_library( TARGET lib1 TYPE SHARED SOURCES dummy_src.F90 )
+
+ecbuild_add_library( TARGET lib2 SOURCES dummy_src.F90 )
diff --git a/tests/ecbuild_shared_libs/test_project/dummy_src.F90 b/tests/ecbuild_shared_libs/test_project/dummy_src.F90
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1c789d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ecbuild_shared_libs/test_project/dummy_src.F90
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+program main
+
+end program