diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index e14bb79..cf0ccf2 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -307,6 +307,7 @@ if(CPPTRACE_GET_SYMBOLS_WITH_LIBDWARF)
   target_compile_definitions(${target_name} PUBLIC CPPTRACE_GET_SYMBOLS_WITH_LIBDWARF)
   if(CPPTRACE_USE_EXTERNAL_LIBDWARF)
     find_package(libdwarf REQUIRED)
+    target_compile_definitions(${target_name} PRIVATE CPPTRACE_USE_EXTERNAL_LIBDWARF)
   else()
     set(CMAKE_POLICY_DEFAULT_CMP0077 NEW)
     set(PIC_ALWAYS TRUE)
diff --git a/src/platform/dwarf.hpp b/src/platform/dwarf.hpp
index 607eca7..d9c4e87 100644
--- a/src/platform/dwarf.hpp
+++ b/src/platform/dwarf.hpp
@@ -9,8 +9,13 @@
 #include <stdexcept>
 #include <type_traits>
 
+#ifdef CPPTRACE_USE_EXTERNAL_LIBDWARF
+#include <libdwarf/libdwarf.h>
+#include <libdwarf/dwarf.h>
+#else
 #include <libdwarf.h>
 #include <dwarf.h>
+#endif
 
 namespace cpptrace {
 namespace detail {
diff --git a/src/symbols/symbols_with_libdwarf.cpp b/src/symbols/symbols_with_libdwarf.cpp
index 8a5e7a2..e3a1bb9 100644
--- a/src/symbols/symbols_with_libdwarf.cpp
+++ b/src/symbols/symbols_with_libdwarf.cpp
@@ -20,8 +20,13 @@
 #include <unordered_map>
 #include <vector>
 
+#ifdef CPPTRACE_USE_EXTERNAL_LIBDWARF
+#include <libdwarf/libdwarf.h>
+#include <libdwarf/dwarf.h>
+#else
 #include <libdwarf.h>
 #include <dwarf.h>
+#endif
 
 // It's been tricky to piece together how to handle all this dwarf stuff. Some resources I've used are
 // https://www.prevanders.net/libdwarf.pdf