diff --git a/docs/examples/CMakeLists.txt b/docs/examples/CMakeLists.txt
index 42bacf2c39..0ef3f53698 100644
--- a/docs/examples/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/docs/examples/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -33,12 +33,17 @@ set(_all "all")
 foreach(_target IN LISTS check_PROGRAMS _all)  # keep '_all' last
   set(_target_name "curl-example-${_target}")
   if(_target STREQUAL "all")
-    if(CMAKE_VERSION VERSION_LESS 3.12)
-      continue()
+    if(CMAKE_VERSION VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL 3.12)
+      set(_examples_c "${check_PROGRAMS}")
+      list(TRANSFORM _examples_c APPEND ".c")
+      add_library(${_target_name} OBJECT EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL ${_examples_c})
+    else()
+      set(_examples_c "")
+      foreach(_src IN LISTS check_PROGRAMS)
+        list(APPEND _examples_c "${_src}.c")
+      endforeach()
+      add_library(${_target_name} STATIC EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL ${_examples_c})
     endif()
-    set(_examples_c "${check_PROGRAMS}")
-    list(TRANSFORM _examples_c APPEND ".c")
-    add_library(${_target_name} OBJECT EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL ${_examples_c})
     add_custom_target(curl-examples-build)  # Special target to compile all tests quickly and build a single test to probe linkage
     add_dependencies(curl-examples-build ${_target_name} ${_all_plus_one})  # Include a full build of a single test
   else()