diff --git a/HDF5Examples/config/HDFMacros.cmake b/HDF5Examples/config/HDFMacros.cmake
index 69825c3dea5..981f7165035 100644
--- a/HDF5Examples/config/HDFMacros.cmake
+++ b/HDF5Examples/config/HDFMacros.cmake
@@ -173,15 +173,6 @@ macro (HDF_DIR_PATHS package_prefix)
     set (CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH ${ADDITIONAL_CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH} ${CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH})
   endif ()
 
-  #set the default debug suffix for all library targets
-  if(NOT CMAKE_DEBUG_POSTFIX)
-    if (WIN32)
-      set (CMAKE_DEBUG_POSTFIX "_D")
-    else ()
-      set (CMAKE_DEBUG_POSTFIX "_debug")
-    endif ()
-  endif ()
-
   SET_HDF_BUILD_TYPE()
 
   SET_HDF_OUTPUT_DIRS(${package_prefix})
diff --git a/config/cmake/cacheinit.cmake b/config/cmake/cacheinit.cmake
index 8b324c25a2c..fb04c7a6e69 100644
--- a/config/cmake/cacheinit.cmake
+++ b/config/cmake/cacheinit.cmake
@@ -40,11 +40,11 @@ set (HDF_TEST_EXPRESS "2" CACHE STRING "Control testing framework (0-3)" FORCE)
 set (HDF5_MINGW_STATIC_GCC_LIBS ON CACHE BOOL "Statically link libgcc/libstdc++" FORCE)
 
 #set the default debug suffix for all library targets
-if (NOT CMAKE_DEBUG_POSTFIX)
+if (NOT DEFINED CMAKE_DEBUG_POSTFIX)
   if (WIN32)
-    set (CMAKE_DEBUG_POSTFIX "_D")
+    set (CMAKE_DEBUG_POSTFIX "_D" CACHE STRING "Debug library postfix")
   else ()
-    set (CMAKE_DEBUG_POSTFIX "_debug")
+    set (CMAKE_DEBUG_POSTFIX "_debug" CACHE STRING "Debug library postfix")
   endif ()
 endif ()