diff --git a/buildscripts/build_dependencies.sh b/buildscripts/build_dependencies.sh
index 9dc06fed2..674756eee 100755
--- a/buildscripts/build_dependencies.sh
+++ b/buildscripts/build_dependencies.sh
@@ -53,8 +53,8 @@ printf "Using ${COMPILER} compilers:\nFC: ${FC}\nCC: ${CC}\nCXX: ${CXX}\n"
 printf "Installing to ${PREFIX}\n"
 printf "\n"
 
-${SCRIPT_DIR}/build_zlib.sh -c $COMPILER -p $PREFIX
-${SCRIPT_DIR}/build_hdf5.sh -c $COMPILER -p $PREFIX
+#${SCRIPT_DIR}/build_zlib.sh -c $COMPILER -p $PREFIX
+#${SCRIPT_DIR}/build_hdf5.sh -c $COMPILER -p $PREFIX
 ${SCRIPT_DIR}/build_netcdf-c.sh -c $COMPILER -p $PREFIX
 ${SCRIPT_DIR}/build_netcdf-fortran.sh -c $COMPILER -p $PREFIX
 
diff --git a/buildscripts/fetch_dependencies.sh b/buildscripts/fetch_dependencies.sh
index f0e615633..e9dd38256 100755
--- a/buildscripts/fetch_dependencies.sh
+++ b/buildscripts/fetch_dependencies.sh
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ done
 
 mkdir -p ${DOWNLOAD_DIR}
 cd $DOWNLOAD_DIR
-wget -qO- https://www.zlib.net/zlib-1.2.13.tar.gz | tar xvz
-wget -qO- https://support.hdfgroup.org/ftp/HDF5/releases/hdf5-1.14/hdf5-1.14.1/src/hdf5-1.14.1-2.tar.gz | tar xvz 
+#wget -qO- https://www.zlib.net/zlib-1.2.13.tar.gz | tar xvz
+#wget -qO- https://support.hdfgroup.org/ftp/HDF5/releases/hdf5-1.14/hdf5-1.14.1/src/hdf5-1.14.1-2.tar.gz | tar xvz 
 wget -qO- https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-c/archive/refs/tags/v4.9.2.tar.gz | tar xvz 
 wget -qO- https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-fortran/archive/refs/tags/v4.6.1.tar.gz | tar xvz 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index b58c4b337..c5f4e4cd2 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -9,9 +9,9 @@ requires = [
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [tool.cibuildwheel.linux]
-environment = {SKBUILD_CONFIGURE_OPTIONS="-DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF"}
+environment = {SKBUILD_CONFIGURE_OPTIONS="-DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF", FFLAGS="${FFLAGS} -fPIC"}
 before-all = [
-    "yum install wget m4 doxygen -y",
+    "yum install wget m4 doxygen hdf5-static -y",
     "buildscripts/fetch_dependencies.sh -d build",
     "buildscripts/build_dependencies.sh -c GNU-Linux -p /usr/local"
 ]
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index fb07c789e..7fc8f60dd 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -150,6 +150,9 @@ ADD_EXECUTABLE(${SWIFTEST_DRIVER} ${DRIVER_src})
 # Create a library from the source files, except the driver
 SET(SWIFTEST_LIBRARY swiftest)
 ADD_LIBRARY(${SWIFTEST_LIBRARY} ${SWIFTEST_src})
+IF (NOT BUILD_SHARED_LIBS) 
+    SET_PROPERTY(TARGET ${SWIFTEST_LIBRARY} PROPERTY POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE)
+ENDIF ()
 
 TARGET_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(${SWIFTEST_LIBRARY} PUBLIC ${NETCDF_INCLUDE_DIR})
 TARGET_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(${SWIFTEST_DRIVER} PUBLIC ${NETCDF_INCLUDE_DIR})
diff --git a/swiftest/CMakeLists.txt b/swiftest/CMakeLists.txt
index 5633f4fc7..47485dbe6 100644
--- a/swiftest/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/swiftest/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ SET(SWIFTEST_BINDINGS _bindings)
 
 ADD_CYTHON_TARGET(${SWIFTEST_BINDINGS})
 ADD_LIBRARY(${SWIFTEST_BINDINGS} MODULE ${SWIFTEST_BINDINGS})
+IF (NOT BUILD_SHARED_LIBS) 
+    SET_PROPERTY(TARGET ${SWIFTEST_BINDINGS} PROPERTY POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE)
+ENDIF ()
 TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(${SWIFTEST_BINDINGS} swiftest ${NETCDF_LIBRARIES} $ENV{LIBS})
 PYTHON_EXTENSION_MODULE(${SWIFTEST_BINDINGS})
 TARGET_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(${SWIFTEST_BINDINGS} PUBLIC ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} ${MOD} ${NETCDF_INCLUDE_DIR})