diff --git a/buildExamples.sh b/buildExamples.sh
index a72498a..3d51592 100755
--- a/buildExamples.sh
+++ b/buildExamples.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/sh
+set -e
+: "${CC:=cc}"
 for f in examples/*.c; do
-  cc -O2 -std=c99 "$f" -o "${f%.c}"
+  "$CC" -std=c99 "$f" -o "${f%.c}"
 done