diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index f81a7da0..23d8ea85 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -9,9 +9,16 @@ set(CMAKE_MODULE_PATH ${CMAKE_MODULE_PATH} "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/lib/mmse
 set(ENABLE_PROSTT5 1 CACHE BOOL "Enable ProstT5")
 set(ENABLE_CUDA 0 CACHE BOOL "Enable CUDA")
 set(IGNORE_RUST_VERSION 0 CACHE BOOL "Ignore Rust version check")
+set(FORCE_STATIC_DEPS 0 CACHE BOOL "Force static linking of deps")
 
-if (NOT CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE)
-    set(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE Release)
+if (FORCE_STATIC_DEPS)
+    set(CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_SUFFIXES .a CACHE INTERNAL "" FORCE)
+    set(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS OFF CACHE INTERNAL "" FORCE)
+endif ()
+
+if (NOT XCODE AND NOT MSVC AND NOT CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE)
+    set(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE Release CACHE STRING "Build type" FORCE)
+    set_property(CACHE CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE PROPERTY STRINGS "Debug" "Release" "MinSizeRel" "RelWithDebInfo")
 endif ()
 
 set(FRAMEWORK_ONLY 1 CACHE INTERNAL "" FORCE)
diff --git a/azure-pipelines.yml b/azure-pipelines.yml
index b2d92142..1a5ad067 100644
--- a/azure-pipelines.yml
+++ b/azure-pipelines.yml
@@ -56,9 +56,8 @@ jobs:
           mkdir build && cd build
           export CC=gcc-11 ; export CXX=g++-11
           if [ "${STATIC}" -eq "1" ]; then
-              cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=${BUILD_TYPE} -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF \
-                -DCMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS="-static -static-libgcc \
-                -static-libstdc++" -DCMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_SUFFIXES=".a" \
+              cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=${BUILD_TYPE} -DFORCE_STATIC_DEPS=1 \
+                -DCMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS="-static -static-libgcc -static-libstdc++" \
                 -DENABLE_WERROR=1 -DHAVE_${SIMD}=1 -DHAVE_MPI=${MPI} ..
           else
               cmake -DHAVE_SANITIZER=1 -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=${BUILD_TYPE} \
@@ -111,10 +110,8 @@ jobs:
       - script: |
           mkdir build && cd build
           CC=${CPREF}-linux-gnu-gcc CXX=${CPREF}-linux-gnu-g++ \
-           cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=${BUILD_TYPE} -DHAVE_TESTS=1 \
-            -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF \
-            -DCMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS="-static -static-libgcc \
-            -static-libstdc++" -DCMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_SUFFIXES=".a" \
+           cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=${BUILD_TYPE} -DHAVE_TESTS=1 -DFORCE_STATIC_DEPS=1 \
+            -DCMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS="-static -static-libgcc -static-libstdc++" \
             -DRust_CARGO_TARGET=${CPREF}-unknown-linux-gnu \
             -DENABLE_WERROR=1 -DHAVE_${SIMD}=1 ..
           make -j $(nproc --all)