diff --git a/Kbuild.in b/Kbuild.in
index 4cc9eb9f..c6469ce7 100644
--- a/Kbuild.in
+++ b/Kbuild.in
@@ -21,7 +21,11 @@
 #
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-obj-m := examples/ master/ devices/
+obj-m := master/ devices/
+
+ifeq (@ENABLE_EXAMPLES@,1)
+	obj-m += examples/
+endif
 
 ifeq (@ENABLE_TTY@,1)
 	obj-m += tty/
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index b7d63911..42099e74 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1209,6 +1209,37 @@ fi
 
 AM_CONDITIONAL(ENABLE_FAKEUSERLIB, test "x$fakeuserlib" = "x1")
 
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# example programs
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether to build the examples])
+
+AC_ARG_ENABLE([examples],
+    AS_HELP_STRING([--enable-examples],
+                   [Generation of example modules (default: yes)]),
+    [
+        case "${enableval}" in
+            yes) examples=1
+                ;;
+            no) examples=0
+                ;;
+            *) AC_MSG_ERROR([Invalid value for --enable-examples])
+                ;;
+        esac
+    ],
+    [examples=1]
+)
+
+if test "x${examples}" = "x1"; then
+    AC_MSG_RESULT([yes])
+else
+    AC_MSG_RESULT([no])
+fi
+
+AM_CONDITIONAL(ENABLE_EXAMPLES, test "x$examples" = "x1")
+AC_SUBST(ENABLE_EXAMPLES,[$examples])
+
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # TTY driver
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------