diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 3ab271b..17c4f3c 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@ version.h
 *.d
 *.o
 sxiv
+config.mk
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index da6c209..23ed7b8 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,82 +1,90 @@
-version = 26
+# Include configure options
+ifneq (clean,$(filter clean,$(MAKECMDGOALS)))
+-include config.mk
+endif
 
-srcdir = .
-VPATH = $(srcdir)
+# sxiv version
+VERSION = 26
 
-PREFIX = /usr/local
+# PREFIX for install
+PREFIX ?= /usr/local
 MANPREFIX = $(PREFIX)/share/man
 
 # autoreload backend: inotify/nop
 AUTORELOAD = inotify
 
-# enable features requiring giflib (-lgif)
-HAVE_GIFLIB = 1
+# CFLAGS, any optimization flags goes here
+CFLAGS ?= -std=c99 -Wall -pedantic
 
-# enable features requiring libexif (-lexif)
-HAVE_LIBEXIF = 1
+ifeq ($(HAVE_LIBEXIF), 1)
+	OPTIONAL_LIBS += -lexif
+else
+	HAVE_LIBEXIF = 0
+endif
+ifeq ($(HAVE_LIBGIF), 1)
+	OPTIONAL_LIBS += -lgif
+else
+	HAVE_LIBGIF = 0
+endif
 
-cflags = -std=c99 -Wall -pedantic $(CFLAGS)
-cppflags = -I. $(CPPFLAGS) -D_XOPEN_SOURCE=700 \
-  -DHAVE_GIFLIB=$(HAVE_GIFLIB) -DHAVE_LIBEXIF=$(HAVE_LIBEXIF) \
+CPPFLAGS = -D_XOPEN_SOURCE=700 \
+  -DHAVE_LIBGIF=$(HAVE_LIBGIF) -DHAVE_LIBEXIF=$(HAVE_LIBEXIF) \
   -I/usr/include/freetype2 -I$(PREFIX)/include/freetype2
 
-lib_exif_0 =
-lib_exif_1 = -lexif
-lib_gif_0 =
-lib_gif_1 = -lgif
-ldlibs = $(LDLIBS) -lImlib2 -lX11 -lXft -lfontconfig \
-  $(lib_exif_$(HAVE_LIBEXIF)) $(lib_gif_$(HAVE_GIFLIB))
+LDLIBS = -lImlib2 -lX11 -lXft -lfontconfig $(OPTIONAL_LIBS)
 
-objs = autoreload_$(AUTORELOAD).o commands.o image.o main.o options.o \
+OBJS = autoreload_$(AUTORELOAD).o commands.o image.o main.o options.o \
   thumbs.o util.o window.o
 
-all: sxiv
-
 .PHONY: all clean install uninstall
 .SUFFIXES:
 .SUFFIXES: .c .o
-$(V).SILENT:
 
-sxiv: $(objs)
+all: sxiv
+
+sxiv: $(OBJS)
 	@echo "LINK $@"
-	$(CC) $(LDFLAGS) -o $@ $(objs) $(ldlibs)
-
-$(objs): Makefile sxiv.h commands.lst config.h
-options.o: version.h
-window.o: icon/data.h
+	$(CC) $(LDFLAGS) -o $@ $^ $(LDLIBS)
 
 .c.o:
 	@echo "CC $@"
-	$(CC) $(cflags) $(cppflags) -c -o $@ $<
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(CPPFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<
+
+$(OBJS): Makefile sxiv.h commands.lst config.h config.mk
+options.o: version.h
+window.o: icon/data.h
+
+config.mk:
+	@echo "GEN $@"
+	@echo "# 0 = disable, 1 = enable" > config.mk
+	@for lib in exif gif; do \
+		if echo "int main(){}" | $(CC) "-l$$lib" -o /dev/null -x c - 2>/dev/null ; then \
+			echo "HAVE_LIB$$lib=1" | tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]' >> config.mk ; \
+		fi \
+	done
 
 config.h:
 	@echo "GEN $@"
-	cp $(srcdir)/config.def.h $@
+	cp config.def.h $@
 
 version.h: Makefile .git/index
 	@echo "GEN $@"
-	v="$$(cd $(srcdir); git describe 2>/dev/null)"; \
-	echo "#define VERSION \"$${v:-$(version)}\"" >$@
-
-.git/index:
+	v="$$(git describe 2>/dev/null)"; \
+	echo "#define VERSION \"$${v:-$(VERSION)}\"" >$@
 
 clean:
-	rm -f *.o sxiv
+	$(RM) *.o sxiv
 
 install: all
 	@echo "INSTALL bin/sxiv"
-	mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/bin
-	cp sxiv $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/bin/
-	chmod 755 $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/bin/sxiv
+	install -Dt $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/bin sxiv
 	@echo "INSTALL sxiv.1"
 	mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(MANPREFIX)/man1
-	sed "s!PREFIX!$(PREFIX)!g; s!VERSION!$(version)!g" sxiv.1 \
+	sed "s!PREFIX!$(PREFIX)!g; s!VERSION!$(VERSION)!g" sxiv.1 \
 		>$(DESTDIR)$(MANPREFIX)/man1/sxiv.1
 	chmod 644 $(DESTDIR)$(MANPREFIX)/man1/sxiv.1
 	@echo "INSTALL share/sxiv/"
-	mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/share/sxiv/exec
-	cp exec/* $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/share/sxiv/exec/
-	chmod 755 $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/share/sxiv/exec/*
+	install -Dt $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/share/sxiv/exec exec/*
 
 uninstall:
 	@echo "REMOVE bin/sxiv"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8795fb5..f2aba7a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -42,8 +42,8 @@ sxiv requires the following software to be installed:
   * Xft
   * freetype2
   * fontconfig
-  * giflib (optional, disabled with `HAVE_GIFLIB=0`)
-  * libexif (optional, disabled with `HAVE_LIBEXIF=0`)
+  * giflib (optional, automatically enabled if installed)
+  * libexif (optional, automatically enabled if installed)
 
 Please make sure to install the corresponding development packages in case that
 you want to build sxiv on a distribution with separate runtime and development
@@ -62,6 +62,15 @@ Please note, that the latter one requires root privileges.
 By default, sxiv is installed using the prefix "/usr/local", so the full path
 of the executable will be "/usr/local/bin/sxiv".
 
+Running make will automatically detect if libexif and libgif are available and
+enable them if so. CLI arguments will override any automatic detection.
+For example:
+
+	$ make HAVE_LIBGIF=0
+
+will always disable libgif.
+Alternatively, they can be disabled via editing `config.mk`.
+
 You can install sxiv into a directory of your choice by changing the second
 command to:
 
diff --git a/image.c b/image.c
index 6f37f44..1c1e4d2 100644
--- a/image.c
+++ b/image.c
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 #include <libexif/exif-data.h>
 #endif
 
-#if HAVE_GIFLIB
+#if HAVE_LIBGIF
 #include <gif_lib.h>
 enum { DEF_GIF_DELAY = 75 };
 #endif
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ void exif_auto_orientate(const fileinfo_t *file)
 }
 #endif
 
-#if HAVE_GIFLIB
+#if HAVE_LIBGIF
 bool img_load_gif(img_t *img, const fileinfo_t *file)
 {
 	GifFileType *gif;
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ bool img_load_gif(img_t *img, const fileinfo_t *file)
 
 	return !err;
 }
-#endif /* HAVE_GIFLIB */
+#endif /* HAVE_LIBGIF */
 
 Imlib_Image img_open(const fileinfo_t *file)
 {
@@ -333,7 +333,7 @@ bool img_load(img_t *img, const fileinfo_t *file)
 #endif
 
 	if ((fmt = imlib_image_format()) != NULL) {
-#if HAVE_GIFLIB
+#if HAVE_LIBGIF
 		if (STREQ(fmt, "gif"))
 			img_load_gif(img, file);
 #endif