diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index b0640b92b1..6a6d708665 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -430,7 +430,7 @@ set (CMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE ON)
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Option to Build Static executables
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-option (BUILD_STATIC_EXECS "Build Static Executabless" OFF)
+option (BUILD_STATIC_EXECS "Build Static Executables" OFF)
 if (BUILD_STATIC_EXECS)
   if (NOT WIN32)
     set (CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -static")
diff --git a/release_docs/INSTALL_CMake.txt b/release_docs/INSTALL_CMake.txt
index a5864bee4f..0a697f8fce 100644
--- a/release_docs/INSTALL_CMake.txt
+++ b/release_docs/INSTALL_CMake.txt
@@ -643,6 +643,11 @@ else ()
     H5_DEFAULT_PLUGINDIR    "/usr/local/hdf5/lib/plugin"
 endif ()
 
+NOTE:
+  The BUILD_STATIC_EXECS ("Build Static Executables") option is only valid
+  on some unix operating system. It adds the "-static" flag to cflags. This
+  flag is not available on windows and some modern linux systems will
+  ignore the flag.
 
 
 ========================================================================