diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 9f88c147..052841cc 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -613,6 +613,16 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE([examples],
 
 AM_CONDITIONAL(BUILD_EXAMPLES, [test "x$build_examples" = "xyes"])
 
+# configure options
+# __examples-source
+AC_ARG_ENABLE([examples-source],
+              [AS_HELP_STRING([--enable-examples-source],
+                              [Enable installing example source to DATAROOTDIR/libcoap/examples [default=yes]])],
+              [build_examples_source="$enableval"],
+              [build_examples_source="yes"])
+
+AM_CONDITIONAL(BUILD_EXAMPLES_SOURCE, [test "x$build_examples_source" = "xyes"])
+
 # configure options
 # __gcov__
 AC_ARG_ENABLE([gcov],
@@ -939,6 +949,11 @@ if test "x$build_examples" = "xyes"; then
 else
     AC_MSG_RESULT([      build examples           : "no"])
 fi
+if test "x$build_examples_source" = "xyes"; then
+    AC_MSG_RESULT([      install examples source  : "yes"])
+else
+    AC_MSG_RESULT([      install examples source  : "no"])
+fi
 if test "x$build_gcov" = "xyes"; then
     AC_MSG_RESULT([      build with gcov support  : "yes"])
 else
diff --git a/examples/Makefile.am b/examples/Makefile.am
index e66f55a5..a743ec24 100644
--- a/examples/Makefile.am
+++ b/examples/Makefile.am
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 # This file is part of the CoAP C library libcoap. Please see README and
 # COPYING for terms of use.
 
+EXTRA_DIST = share.libcoap.examples.Makefile share.libcoap.examples.README
+
 # just do nothing if 'BUILD_EXAMPLES' isn't defined
 if BUILD_EXAMPLES
 
@@ -34,3 +36,19 @@ coap_tiny_SOURCES = tiny.c
 coap_tiny_LDADD = $(DTLS_LIBS) $(top_builddir)/.libs/libcoap-$(LIBCOAP_NAME_SUFFIX).la
 
 endif # BUILD_EXAMPLES
+
+if BUILD_EXAMPLES_SOURCE
+EXAMPLES_DIR = $(DESTDIR)$(datadir)/libcoap/examples
+EXAMPLES_SRC = coap-client.c coap-server.c
+
+## Install example files
+install-exec-hook:
+	$(MKDIR_P) $(EXAMPLES_DIR)
+	(cd $(top_srcdir)/examples ; \
+	$(INSTALL_DATA) $(EXAMPLES_SRC) ../LICENSE ../COPYING $(EXAMPLES_DIR) ; \
+	$(INSTALL_DATA) share.libcoap.examples.Makefile $(EXAMPLES_DIR)/Makefile; \
+	$(INSTALL_DATA) share.libcoap.examples.README $(EXAMPLES_DIR)/README)
+
+uninstall-hook:
+	rm -rf $(DESTDIR)$(datadir)/libcoap/examples
+endif # BUILD_EXAMPLES_SOURCE
diff --git a/examples/share.libcoap.examples.Makefile b/examples/share.libcoap.examples.Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4801c953
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/share.libcoap.examples.Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+# Makefile for libcoap standalone examples
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2021 Olaf Bergmann <bergmann@tzi.org>
+#
+# This file is part of the CoAP C library libcoap. Please see README and
+# COPYING for terms of use.
+
+# Set external variable LIBCOAP if you need a specific libcoap library.
+# E.g. libcoap-3-openssl, libcoap-3-gnutls, libcoap-3-mbedtls or libcoap-3-notls
+#
+LIBCOAP?=libcoap-3
+
+WARNING_CFLAGS= \
+	-pedantic \
+	-Wall \
+	-Wcast-qual \
+	-Wextra \
+	-Wformat-security \
+	-Winline \
+	-Wmissing-declarations \
+	-Wmissing-prototypes \
+	-Wnested-externs \
+	-Wpointer-arith \
+	-Wshadow \
+	-Wstrict-prototypes \
+	-Wswitch-default \
+	-Wswitch-enum \
+	-Wunused \
+	-Wwrite-strings
+
+pkgconfig=$(shell pkg-config $(1) $(2))
+
+CPPFLAGS=-D_GNU_SOURCE $(WARNING_CFLAGS) $(call pkgconfig,--cflags,$(LIBCOAP))
+CFLAGS=-std=c99
+LDLIBS=$(call pkgconfig,--libs-only-l,$(LIBCOAP))
+libdirs=$(call pkgconfig,--libs-only-L,$(LIBCOAP))
+rpath=$(shell echo "$(libdirs)" | sed -e 's/^-L/-Wl,--rpath /')
+LDFLAGS=$(libdirs) $(rpath)
+
+all: coap-client coap-server
+
+clean:
+	rm -f *.o coap-client coap-server
diff --git a/examples/share.libcoap.examples.README b/examples/share.libcoap.examples.README
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f4b586cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/share.libcoap.examples.README
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+This directory contains some example libcoap code for a client or server which
+can easily be modified as per your requirements.
+
+The provided code is the same as used to build the installed binaries
+coap-client and coap-server.
+
+Simply 'cd' into this directory and then run 'make' to build the executables.
+
+