diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index c17ac87e0..40e3cd084 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -30,13 +30,23 @@ set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS "-Wall -fPIC")
 set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "-Wall -fPIC")
 
 if(BUILD_TYPE MATCHES Debug)
-  set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -ggdb -O0 -pthread -pipe -DSS_DEBUG -Wformat -Werror=format-security -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4")
-  set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -ggdb -O0 -pthread -pipe -DSS_DEBUG -Wformat -Werror=format-security -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4")
+  set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -ggdb -pthread -pipe -DSS_DEBUG -Wformat -Werror=format-security -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4")
+  set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -ggdb -pthread -pipe -DSS_DEBUG -Wformat -Werror=format-security -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4")
 elseif(BUILD_TYPE MATCHES Release)
-  set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -O2")
-  set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -O2 ")
+  if(NOT (DEFINED OLEVEL))
+	set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -O2")
+	set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -O2")
+  endif()
 endif()
 
+if(DEFINED OLEVEL )
+  if((OLEVEL GREATER -1) AND (OLEVEL LESS 4) )
+  	set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -O${OLEVEL}")
+	set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -O${OLEVEL}")
+  else()
+	message(WARNING "Optimization level was set to a bad value, ignoring it. (Valid values are 0-3)")
+  endif()
+endif()
 
 if(GCOV)
   set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -fprofile-arcs -ftest-coverage")
diff --git a/README b/README
index e44ccfd09..9106681a2 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -212,6 +212,7 @@ MYSQL_DIR=<path>				Path to MySQL headers
 ERRMSG=<path>					Path to errmsg.sys file
 STATIC_EMBEDDED=[Y|N]			Link the static or the dynamic verson of the library
 GCOV=[Y|N]						Generate gcov output
+OLEVEL=<0-3>					Level of optimization
 BUILD_TESTS=[Y|N]				Build tests
 DEPS_OK=[Y|N]					Check dependencies, use N when you want to force a recheck of values
 DEBUG_OUTPUT=[Y|N]				Produce debugging output when configuring CMake