diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 0cdc5db56..5ac9771b6 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -28,6 +28,44 @@ if (NOT DEFINED HDF5_DIR)
     message (FATAL_ERROR "HDF5_DIR is not found!" )
 endif (NOT DEFINED HDF5_DIR)
 
+# brutal force to find the variables defined in PETSC
+# ref:
+# https://github.com/jedbrown/cmake-modules/blob/master/FindPETSc.cmake
+set(petsc_conf_variables "${PETSC_DIR}/lib/petsc/conf/variables")
+set(petsc_conf_rules     "${PETSC_DIR}/lib/petsc/conf/rules"    )
+# A temporary makefile to probe the PETSc configuration
+set (petsc_config_makefile "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/Makefile.petsc")
+file (WRITE "${petsc_config_makefile}"
+"## This file was autogenerated by FindPETSc.cmake
+# PETSC_DIR  = ${PETSC_DIR}
+# PETSC_ARCH = ${PETSC_ARCH}
+include ${petsc_conf_rules}
+include ${petsc_conf_variables}
+show:
+\t-@echo -n \${\${VARIABLE}}
+")
+
+macro (PETSC_GET_VARIABLE name var)
+  set (${var} "NOTFOUND" CACHE INTERNAL "Cleared" FORCE)
+  execute_process (COMMAND ${MAKE_EXECUTABLE} --no-print-directory -f ${petsc_config_makefile}
+                           show VARIABLE=${name}
+                           OUTPUT_VARIABLE ${var}
+                           RESULT_VARIABLE petsc_return)
+endmacro (PETSC_GET_VARIABLE)
+petsc_get_variable (PETSC_LIB_DIR            "PETSC_LIB_DIR"      )
+petsc_get_variable (PETSC_EXTERNAL_LIB_BASIC "PETSC_LIBS_EXTERNAL")
+petsc_get_variable (PETSC_CCPPFLAGS          "PETSC_CPP_LINE"     )
+petsc_get_variable (PETSC_INCLUDE            "PETSC_INCLUDE"      )
+petsc_get_variable (PCC                      "PETSC_CC"           )
+petsc_get_variable (PCC_FLAGS                "PETSC_CC_FLAGS"     )
+petsc_get_variable (MPIEXEC                  "PETSC_MPIEXEC"      )
+# We are done with the temporary Makefile, calling PETSC_GET_VARIABLE after this point is invalid!
+# file (REMOVE ${petsc_config_makefile})
+
+message("${PETSC_DIR}")
+message("${PETSC_LIB_DIR}")
+message("${PETSC_INCLUDE}")
+
 # OUTPUT TYPE
 set (SPECTRAL OFF)
 set (FEM      OFF)
@@ -52,7 +90,9 @@ include_directories(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/code
                     lib
                     ${HDF5_DIR}/include
                     )
-link_directories(${HDF5_DIR}/lib)
+link_directories(${HDF5_DIR}/lib
+                 ${PETSC_DIR}/lib
+                 ${PETSC_EXTERNAL_LIB_BASIC})
 
 ##
 # set compile and debug flags
@@ -254,24 +294,24 @@ set (LINK_OPTIONS_ifort      "-shared-intel")
 #-fno-fast-math:
 #      -->   otherwise, when setting -ffast-math, isnan always evaluates to false (I would call it a bug)
 ###################################################################################################
-set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -DDAMASKVERSION=${DAMASKVERSION}")
-set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -xf95-cpp-input"                 )
-set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -ffree-line-length-240"          )
-set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -fimplicit-none"                 )
-set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -fmodule-private"                )
-set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -Wall"                           )
-set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -Wextra"                         )
-set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -Wcharacter-truncation"          )
-set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -Wunderflow"                     )
-set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -Wsuggest-attribute=pure"        )
-set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -Wsuggest-attribute=noreturn"    )
-set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -Wconversion-extra"              )
-set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -Wimplicit-procedure"            )
-set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -Wno-unused-parameter"           )
-set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -fno-range-check"                )
-set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -fall-intrinsics"                )
-set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -fno-fast-math"                  )
-set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -fall-intrinsics"                )
+set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -DDAMASKVERSION=\\\"${DAMASKVERSION}\\\"")
+set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -xf95-cpp-input"                         )
+set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -ffree-line-length-240"                  )
+set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -fimplicit-none"                         )
+set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -fmodule-private"                        )
+set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -Wall"                                   )
+set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -Wextra"                                 )
+set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -Wcharacter-truncation"                  )
+set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -Wunderflow"                             )
+set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -Wsuggest-attribute=pure"                )
+set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -Wsuggest-attribute=noreturn"            )
+set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -Wconversion-extra"                      )
+set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -Wimplicit-procedure"                    )
+set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -Wno-unused-parameter"                   )
+set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -fno-range-check"                        )
+set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -fall-intrinsics"                        )
+set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -fno-fast-math"                          )
+set (COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran "${COMPILE_OPTIONS_gfortran} -fall-intrinsics"                        )
 ###################################################################################################
 # COMPILE SWITCHES FOR RUNTIME DEBUGGING
 # -ffpe-trap=invalid,\         stop execution if floating point exception is detected (NaN is silent)