diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 017fe86757f..9db02a1e895 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1166,9 +1166,15 @@ if(WITH_BENCHMARK_TOOLS)
     ${ROCKSDB_LIB})
 endif()
 
+option(WITH_CORE_TOOLS "build with ldb and sst_dump" ON)
 option(WITH_TOOLS "build with tools" ON)
-if(WITH_TOOLS)
+if(WITH_CORE_TOOLS OR WITH_TOOLS)
   add_subdirectory(tools)
+  add_custom_target(core_tools
+    DEPENDS ${core_tool_deps})
+endif()
+
+if(WITH_TOOLS)
   add_subdirectory(db_stress_tool)
   add_custom_target(tools
     DEPENDS ${tool_deps})
diff --git a/tools/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/CMakeLists.txt
index 50ee3b1b6ed..4a4b0bcdac9 100644
--- a/tools/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tools/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,21 +1,30 @@
-set(TOOLS
+set(CORE_TOOLS
   sst_dump.cc
-  db_sanity_test.cc
-  write_stress.cc
-  ldb.cc
-  db_repl_stress.cc
-  dump/rocksdb_dump.cc
-  dump/rocksdb_undump.cc)
-foreach(src ${TOOLS})
+  ldb.cc)
+foreach(src ${CORE_TOOLS})
   get_filename_component(exename ${src} NAME_WE)
   add_executable(${exename}${ARTIFACT_SUFFIX}
     ${src})
   target_link_libraries(${exename}${ARTIFACT_SUFFIX} ${ROCKSDB_LIB})
-  list(APPEND tool_deps ${exename})
+  list(APPEND core_tool_deps ${exename})
 endforeach()
 
-list(APPEND tool_deps)
+if(WITH_TOOLS)
+  set(TOOLS
+    db_sanity_test.cc
+    write_stress.cc
+    db_repl_stress.cc
+    dump/rocksdb_dump.cc
+    dump/rocksdb_undump.cc)
+  foreach(src ${TOOLS})
+    get_filename_component(exename ${src} NAME_WE)
+    add_executable(${exename}${ARTIFACT_SUFFIX}
+      ${src})
+    target_link_libraries(${exename}${ARTIFACT_SUFFIX} ${ROCKSDB_LIB})
+    list(APPEND tool_deps ${exename})
+  endforeach()
 
-add_custom_target(ldb_tests
-  COMMAND python ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/ldb_tests.py
-  DEPENDS ldb)
+  add_custom_target(ldb_tests
+    COMMAND python ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/ldb_tests.py
+    DEPENDS ldb)
+endif()