diff --git a/examples/AlignDet/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/AlignDet/CMakeLists.txt
index 6c7282fec5550a6beb8fa7be0505ee34e9085df6..98f7286d521fd8b1e7b951893f7fce7e82ae7a03 100644
--- a/examples/AlignDet/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/AlignDet/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -14,14 +14,11 @@ include ( ${DD4hep_DIR}/cmake/DD4hep.cmake )
 #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 dd4hep_configure_output()
 
-link_libraries(
-  DD4hep::DDCore
-  DD4hep::DDCond
-  DD4hep::DDAlign
-  ROOT::Core ROOT::Geom ROOT::GenVector ROOT::MathCore
-  )
 set(AlignDet_INSTALL ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/examples/AlignDet)
-dd4hep_add_plugin(AlignDetExample SOURCES src/*.cpp)
+dd4hep_add_plugin(AlignDetExample SOURCES src/*.cpp
+  USES DD4hep::DDCore DD4hep::DDCond DD4hep::DDAlign
+       ROOT::Core ROOT::Geom ROOT::GenVector ROOT::MathCore
+  )
 dd4hep_install_dir(compact DESTINATION ${AlignDet_INSTALL})
 dd4hep_configure_scripts(AlignDet DEFAULT_SETUP WITH_TESTS)
 install(TARGETS AlignDetExample LIBRARY DESTINATION lib)
diff --git a/examples/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/CMakeLists.txt
index adcbed9a5866fdd38fcfe0569fdcfb2043b9f59b..9e6da72e55ee6d484961e903bc5157048b8a4437 100644
--- a/examples/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -45,8 +45,6 @@ SET( ENV{DD4hepExamplesINSTALL} ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX} )
 #
 dd4hep_configure_output()
 
-find_package(ROOT REQUIRED COMPONENTS Geom GenVector)
-
 add_subdirectory(CLICSiD)
 add_subdirectory(LHeD)
 add_subdirectory(AlignDet)
diff --git a/examples/ClientTests/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/ClientTests/CMakeLists.txt
index 148d1ec26ae0bad6ef642c6fa1f592b7c351b4ca..882e64fbf89b37c6d8d9007808bc3c9858017d60 100644
--- a/examples/ClientTests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/ClientTests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -14,15 +14,8 @@ include ( ${DD4hep_DIR}/cmake/DD4hep.cmake )
 #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 dd4hep_configure_output()
 
-link_libraries(
-  DD4hep::DDCore
-  DD4hep::DDCond
-  DD4hep::DDAlign
-  ROOT::Core ROOT::Geom ROOT::GenVector
-  )
-
 if(TARGET XercesC::XercesC)
-  link_libraries(XercesC::XercesC)
+  SET(OPT_XERCESC XercesC::XercesC)
 endif()
 
 include_directories(./include)
@@ -31,13 +24,17 @@ if(TARGET Boost::boost)
   SET(CT_BOOST_SOURCES src_boost/*.cpp)
   set(CT_BOOST_LIB Boost::boost)
 endif()
-dd4hep_add_plugin(ClientTests SOURCES src/*.cpp ${CT_BOOST_SOURCES}) 
-target_link_libraries(ClientTests ${CT_BOOST_LIB})
+dd4hep_add_plugin(ClientTests SOURCES src/*.cpp ${CT_BOOST_SOURCES}
+  USES DD4hep::DDCore DD4hep::DDCond DD4hep::DDAlign
+       ROOT::Core ROOT::Geom ROOT::GenVector
+       ${OPT_XERCESC} ${CT_BOOST_LIB}
+  )
 install(TARGETS ClientTests LIBRARY DESTINATION lib)
 
 #
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 add_executable( multipleGeo   main/MultipleGeometries.cpp )
+target_link_libraries(multipleGeo DD4hep::DDCore DD4hep::DDCond DD4hep::DDAlign)
 install(TARGETS multipleGeo RUNTIME DESTINATION bin)
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #
diff --git a/examples/Conditions/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/Conditions/CMakeLists.txt
index c84e4f533eba02e59edd0e1d6164cf873f978848..1ac8290faba3dc18970370f468ca16087cf9ad81 100644
--- a/examples/Conditions/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/Conditions/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -15,18 +15,15 @@ include ( ${DD4hep_DIR}/cmake/DD4hep.cmake )
 dd4hep_configure_output ()
 
 if(TARGET XercesC::XercesC)
-  link_libraries(XercesC::XercesC)
+  SET(OPT_XERCESC XercesC::XercesC)
 endif()
-
-link_libraries(
-  DD4hep::DDCore
-  DD4hep::DDCond
-  DD4hep::DDAlign
-  ROOT::Core ROOT::Geom ROOT::GenVector
-  )
   
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-dd4hep_add_plugin(ConditionsExample SOURCES src/*.cpp)
+dd4hep_add_plugin(ConditionsExample SOURCES src/*.cpp
+  USES  DD4hep::DDCore DD4hep::DDCond DD4hep::DDAlign
+        ROOT::Core ROOT::Geom ROOT::GenVector
+        ${OPT_XERCESC}
+  )
 install(TARGETS ConditionsExample LIBRARY DESTINATION lib)
 dd4hep_install_dir( xml  DESTINATION examples/Conditions )
 dd4hep_install_dir( data DESTINATION examples/Conditions )
diff --git a/examples/DDG4/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/DDG4/CMakeLists.txt
index 9617ea939af921f58fef9ec526fea47bafe75a00..a9297b1f4e3143e4d3202badfd4e0d1075c534a3 100644
--- a/examples/DDG4/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/DDG4/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ include ( ${DD4hep_DIR}/cmake/DD4hep.cmake )
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 dd4hep_configure_output ()
-link_libraries(DD4hep::DDCore)
 
 set(DDG4examples_INSTALL  ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/examples/DDG4)
 #
diff --git a/examples/DDG4_MySensDet/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/DDG4_MySensDet/CMakeLists.txt
index 8e29086f0a27899619cc12688fcc902cfeb52426..51888b8aa9f5d2375e75ef22ecbd1aed82679242 100644
--- a/examples/DDG4_MySensDet/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/DDG4_MySensDet/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -16,9 +16,6 @@ if(NOT TARGET Geant4::Interface)
   return()
 endif()
 
-link_libraries(DD4hep::DDCore DD4hep::DDG4 Geant4::Interface ROOT::Core ROOT::Geom ROOT::GenVector ROOT::RIO)
-
-
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 set(DDG4_MySensDet_INSTALL ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/examples/DDG4_MySensDet)
 install(DIRECTORY scripts DESTINATION ${DDG4_MySensDet_INSTALL})
diff --git a/examples/LHeD/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/LHeD/CMakeLists.txt
index c716a48acc5c3b1beaf684735ca089dbe73ce9bc..4fb8552a8ccec4c37490f0cc01355ea8819a2d7d 100644
--- a/examples/LHeD/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/LHeD/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -13,10 +13,6 @@ include ( ${DD4hep_DIR}/cmake/DD4hep.cmake )
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 dd4hep_configure_output ()
-# dd4hep_package ( LHeD MAJOR 0 MINOR 0 PATCH 1
-#   USES           [ROOT   REQUIRED COMPONENTS Geom GenVector MathCore] 
-#                  [DD4hep REQUIRED COMPONENTS DDRec DDCore DDCond DDAlign]
-#   )
 set(LHeDEx_INSTALL         ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/examples/LHeD)
 dd4hep_install_dir( src compact scripts sim DESTINATION ${LHeDEx_INSTALL} )
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/examples/OpticalSurfaces/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/OpticalSurfaces/CMakeLists.txt
index b41e6be107b95daad5b98a7d929e8446d5280bab..e92ae0a074de442f4a6f77b5c52ad791956e3e40 100644
--- a/examples/OpticalSurfaces/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/OpticalSurfaces/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -22,13 +22,9 @@ dd4hep_print("|++> Building optical surface test")
 #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 dd4hep_configure_output()
 
-link_libraries(
-  DD4hep::DDCore DD4hep::DDCond
-  ROOT::Core ROOT::Geom ROOT::GenVector ROOT::MathCore
-  )
-
 set(OpticalSurfaces_INSTALL ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/examples/OpticalSurfaces)
-dd4hep_add_plugin(OpticalSurfacesExample SOURCES src/*.cpp  )
+dd4hep_add_plugin(OpticalSurfacesExample SOURCES src/*.cpp
+  USES DD4hep::DDCore DD4hep::DDCond ROOT::Core ROOT::Geom ROOT::GenVector ROOT::MathCore)
 install(TARGETS OpticalSurfacesExample LIBRARY DESTINATION lib)
 install(DIRECTORY compact scripts DESTINATION ${OpticalSurfaces_INSTALL} )
 dd4hep_configure_scripts( OpticalSurfaces DEFAULT_SETUP WITH_TESTS)
diff --git a/examples/Persistency/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/Persistency/CMakeLists.txt
index 68904d920de5e395e4bbe7da0fec35f6180755c9..5eda33742564296d4e661ec55142b646229db245 100644
--- a/examples/Persistency/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/Persistency/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -11,13 +11,14 @@
 cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.3 FATAL_ERROR)
 include ( ${DD4hep_DIR}/cmake/DD4hep.cmake )
 
-link_libraries(DD4hep::DDCore ROOT::Core ROOT::Geom ROOT::GenVector)
 if(TARGET XercesC::XercesC)
-  link_libraries(XercesC::XercesC)
+  SET(OPT_XERCESC XercesC::XercesC)
 endif()
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-dd4hep_add_plugin(PersistencyExample SOURCES src/*.cpp)
+dd4hep_add_plugin(PersistencyExample SOURCES src/*.cpp
+  USES DD4hep::DDCore ROOT::Core ROOT::Geom ROOT::GenVector ${OPT_XERCESC}
+  )
 install(TARGETS PersistencyExample LIBRARY DESTINATION lib)
 dd4hep_configure_scripts (Persistency DEFAULT_SETUP WITH_TESTS )
 #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/examples/SimpleDetector/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/SimpleDetector/CMakeLists.txt
index feecea3a8ef2bcf78c34022898a1016b76960f8a..8214d2ecb0b89940d8e57ab80333375e7b7d5255 100644
--- a/examples/SimpleDetector/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/SimpleDetector/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -12,13 +12,13 @@ cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.3 FATAL_ERROR)
 include ( ${DD4hep_DIR}/cmake/DD4hep.cmake )
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-link_libraries(DD4hep::DDCore DD4hep::DDRec ROOT::Core ROOT::Geom ROOT::GenVector)
-
 if(TARGET XercesC::XercesC)
-  link_libraries(XercesC::XercesC)
+  SET(OPT_XERCESC XercesC::XercesC)
 endif()
 
-dd4hep_add_plugin(SimpleDetector SOURCES src/*.cpp)
+dd4hep_add_plugin(SimpleDetector SOURCES src/*.cpp
+  USES DD4hep::DDCore DD4hep::DDRec ROOT::Core ROOT::Geom ROOT::GenVector ${OPT_XERCESC}
+  )
 install(TARGETS SimpleDetector LIBRARY DESTINATION lib)
 install(DIRECTORY compact DESTINATION examples/ClientTests)
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------