diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 96c2a43642..1fc2bd3f0a 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -78,6 +78,61 @@ set(SYMBOLPREFIX "" CACHE STRING  "Add a prefix to all exported symbol names in
 
 set(SYMBOLSUFFIX "" CACHE STRING  "Add a suffix to all exported symbol names in the shared library, e.g. _64 for INTERFACE64 builds" )
 
+# Target architecture - auto-detected if not specified
+set(TARGET "" CACHE STRING "Target CPU architecture (e.g. HASWELL, SANDYBRIDGE, NEHALEM, ARMV8, POWER9). Auto-detected if not specified.")
+
+# Binary type (32-bit or 64-bit)
+set(BINARY "" CACHE STRING "Build a 32-bit or 64-bit library (32 or 64). Auto-detected if not specified. Note: 32-bit disables AVX.")
+
+# Threading options
+set(USE_THREAD "" CACHE STRING "Enable multi-threading (0=disabled, 1=enabled). Auto-detected based on NUM_THREADS if not specified.")
+option(USE_OPENMP "Use OpenMP for threading instead of pthreads" OFF)
+set(NUM_THREADS "" CACHE STRING "Maximum number of threads. Auto-detected from CPU cores if not specified.")
+set(NUM_PARALLEL "1" CACHE STRING "Number of parallel OpenBLAS instances when using OpenMP (default: 1)")
+
+# 64-bit integer interface
+option(INTERFACE64 "Use 64-bit integers for array indices (equivalent to -i8 in ifort)" OFF)
+
+# Vector extension control
+option(NO_AVX "Disable AVX kernel support (use for compatibility with older systems)" OFF)
+option(NO_AVX2 "Disable AVX2 optimizations" OFF)
+option(NO_AVX512 "Disable AVX512 optimizations" OFF)
+
+# Memory tuning options
+set(BUFFERSIZE "" CACHE STRING "Memory buffer size factor (32<<n bytes, default: architecture-dependent, typically 25)")
+set(MAX_STACK_ALLOC "2048" CACHE STRING "Maximum stack allocation in bytes (0 to disable, may reduce GER/GEMV performance)")
+set(BLAS3_MEM_ALLOC_THRESHOLD "32" CACHE STRING "Thread count threshold for heap allocation of job arrays (default: 32)")
+set(GEMM_MULTITHREAD_THRESHOLD "4" CACHE STRING "Threshold below which GEMM runs single-threaded (default: 4)")
+
+# Threading implementation options
+option(USE_SIMPLE_THREADED_LEVEL3 "Use legacy threaded Level 3 implementation" OFF)
+option(USE_TLS "Use thread-local storage instead of central memory buffer (requires glibc 2.21+)" OFF)
+option(CONSISTENT_FPCSR "Synchronize floating-point CSR between threads (x86/x86_64/aarch64 only)" OFF)
+
+# System configuration
+option(BIGNUMA "Support systems with more than 16 NUMA nodes or more than 256 CPUs (Linux only)" OFF)
+option(EMBEDDED "Build for embedded/bare-metal systems (requires custom malloc/free)" OFF)
+
+# Precision type options (default: build all types if all OFF)
+option(BUILD_SINGLE "Build single precision (REAL) functions" OFF)
+option(BUILD_DOUBLE "Build double precision (DOUBLE PRECISION) functions" OFF)
+option(BUILD_COMPLEX "Build complex (COMPLEX) functions" OFF)
+option(BUILD_COMPLEX16 "Build double complex (COMPLEX*16) functions" OFF)
+option(BUILD_BFLOAT16 "Build experimental BFLOAT16 functions" OFF)
+option(BUILD_HFLOAT16 "Build experimental HFLOAT16 functions" OFF)
+
+# CBLAS-only mode
+option(ONLY_CBLAS "Build only CBLAS interface (no Fortran BLAS, implies NO_LAPACK)" OFF)
+
+# Profiling and debugging
+option(FUNCTION_PROFILE "Enable function-level performance profiling" OFF)
+option(SANITY_CHECK "Compare results against reference BLAS (slow, for testing only)" OFF)
+
+# Memory allocation methods
+option(HUGETLB_ALLOCATION "Use huge pages for thread buffers via shared memory" OFF)
+set(HUGETLBFILE_ALLOCATION "" CACHE STRING "Path to hugetlbfs mount for huge page allocation (e.g. /hugepages)")
+option(DEVICEDRIVER_ALLOCATION "Use device driver for physically contiguous memory allocation" OFF)
+
 if (CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME MATCHES "Windows" AND BUILD_SHARED_LIBS AND NOT ("${SYMBOLPREFIX}${SYMBOLSUFFIX}" STREQUAL ""))
 set (DELETE_STATIC_LIBS "")
 if (NOT BUILD_STATIC_LIBS)
@@ -137,7 +192,7 @@ if (NOT DYNAMIC_ARCH)
   list(APPEND BLASDIRS kernel)
 endif ()
 
-if (DEFINED SANITY_CHECK)
+if (SANITY_CHECK)
   list(APPEND BLASDIRS reference)
 endif ()
 
@@ -149,16 +204,10 @@ if (NOT NO_LAPACK)
   list(APPEND SUBDIRS lapack)
 endif ()
 
-if (NOT DEFINED BUILD_BFLOAT16)
- set (BUILD_BFLOAT16 false)
-endif ()
-if (NOT DEFINED BUILD_HFLOAT16)
- set (BUILD_HFLOAT16 false)
-endif ()
 # set which float types we want to build for
-if (NOT DEFINED BUILD_SINGLE AND NOT DEFINED BUILD_DOUBLE AND NOT DEFINED BUILD_COMPLEX AND NOT DEFINED BUILD_COMPLEX16)
-  # if none are defined, build for all
-  # set(BUILD_BFLOAT16 true)
+# If none of the BUILD_* precision options are ON, build all (except BFLOAT16)
+if (NOT BUILD_SINGLE AND NOT BUILD_DOUBLE AND NOT BUILD_COMPLEX AND NOT BUILD_COMPLEX16)
+  # if none are enabled, build for all
   set(BUILD_SINGLE true)
   set(BUILD_DOUBLE true)
   set(BUILD_COMPLEX true)
diff --git a/cmake/system.cmake b/cmake/system.cmake
index 727afb660b..0a0a6f8882 100644
--- a/cmake/system.cmake
+++ b/cmake/system.cmake
@@ -34,20 +34,44 @@ set(NETLIB_LAPACK_DIR "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/lapack-netlib")
 # System detection, via CMake.
 include("${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/system_check.cmake")
 
-if(CMAKE_CROSSCOMPILING AND NOT DEFINED TARGET)
+# Handle cache options that should be auto-detected if empty
+# We keep the cache entry visible in ccmake but treat empty values as "not set"
+set(_TARGET_SET FALSE)
+if (DEFINED TARGET AND NOT "${TARGET}" STREQUAL "")
+  set(_TARGET_SET TRUE)
+endif()
+
+if(CMAKE_CROSSCOMPILING AND NOT _TARGET_SET)
   # Detect target without running getarch
   if (ARM64)
     set(TARGET "ARMV8")
+    set(_TARGET_SET TRUE)
   elseif(ARM)
     set(TARGET "ARMV7") # TODO: Ask compiler which arch this is
+    set(_TARGET_SET TRUE)
   else()
     message(FATAL_ERROR "When cross compiling, a TARGET is required.")
   endif()
 endif()
 
+set(_BINARY_SET FALSE)
+if (DEFINED BINARY AND NOT "${BINARY}" STREQUAL "")
+  set(_BINARY_SET TRUE)
+endif()
+
+set(_USE_THREAD_SET FALSE)
+if (DEFINED USE_THREAD AND NOT "${USE_THREAD}" STREQUAL "")
+  set(_USE_THREAD_SET TRUE)
+endif()
+
+set(_NUM_THREADS_SET FALSE)
+if (DEFINED NUM_THREADS AND NOT "${NUM_THREADS}" STREQUAL "")
+  set(_NUM_THREADS_SET TRUE)
+endif()
+
 # Other files expect CORE, which is actually TARGET and will become TARGET_CORE for kernel build. Confused yet?
 # It seems we are meant to use TARGET as input and CORE internally as kernel.
-if(NOT DEFINED CORE AND DEFINED TARGET)
+if(NOT DEFINED CORE AND _TARGET_SET)
   if (${TARGET} STREQUAL "LOONGSON3R5")
     set(CORE "LA464")
   elseif (${TARGET} STREQUAL "LOONGSON2K1000")
@@ -62,10 +86,11 @@ endif()
 # TARGET_CORE will override TARGET which is used in DYNAMIC_ARCH=1.
 if (DEFINED TARGET_CORE)
   set(TARGET ${TARGET_CORE})
+  set(_TARGET_SET TRUE)
 endif ()
 
 # Force fallbacks for 32bit
-if (DEFINED BINARY AND DEFINED TARGET AND BINARY EQUAL 32)
+if (_BINARY_SET AND _TARGET_SET AND BINARY EQUAL 32)
   message(STATUS "Compiling a ${BINARY}-bit binary.")
   set(NO_AVX 1)
   if (${TARGET} STREQUAL "HASWELL" OR ${TARGET} STREQUAL "SANDYBRIDGE" OR ${TARGET} STREQUAL "SKYLAKEX" OR ${TARGET} STREQUAL "COOPERLAKE" OR ${TARGET} STREQUAL "SAPPHIRERAPIDS")
@@ -83,7 +108,7 @@ if (DEFINED BINARY AND DEFINED TARGET AND BINARY EQUAL 32)
 endif ()
 
 
-if (DEFINED TARGET)
+if (_TARGET_SET)
   message(STATUS "-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --")
   message(STATUS "Targeting the ${TARGET} architecture.")
   set(GETARCH_FLAGS "-DFORCE_${TARGET}")
@@ -172,7 +197,7 @@ if (NOT DEFINED NUM_PARALLEL)
   set(NUM_PARALLEL 1)
 endif()
 
-if (NOT DEFINED NUM_THREADS)
+if (NOT _NUM_THREADS_SET)
   if (DEFINED NUM_CORES AND NOT NUM_CORES EQUAL 0)
     # HT?
     set(NUM_THREADS ${NUM_CORES})
@@ -183,7 +208,7 @@ endif()
 
 if (${NUM_THREADS} LESS 2)
   set(USE_THREAD 0)
-elseif(NOT DEFINED USE_THREAD)
+elseif(NOT _USE_THREAD_SET)
   set(USE_THREAD 1)
 endif ()
 
@@ -202,7 +227,7 @@ if (C_LAPACK)
 endif ()
 
 include("${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/prebuild.cmake")
-if (DEFINED TARGET)
+if (_TARGET_SET)
   if (${TARGET} STREQUAL COOPERLAKE AND NOT NO_AVX512)
     if (${CMAKE_C_COMPILER_ID} STREQUAL "GNU")
         if (${CMAKE_C_COMPILER_VERSION} VERSION_GREATER 10.09)
@@ -683,7 +708,7 @@ if (HUGETLB_ALLOCATION)
   set(CCOMMON_OPT "${CCOMMON_OPT} -DALLOC_HUGETLB")
 endif ()
 
-if (DEFINED HUGETLBFILE_ALLOCATION)
+if (DEFINED HUGETLBFILE_ALLOCATION AND NOT "${HUGETLBFILE_ALLOCATION}" STREQUAL "")
   set(CCOMMON_OPT "${CCOMMON_OPT} -DALLOC_HUGETLBFILE -DHUGETLB_FILE_NAME=${HUGETLBFILE_ALLOCATION})")
 endif ()