diff --git a/cmake/external/gflags.cmake b/cmake/external/gflags.cmake
index 2a49d76eb30f592a28746f5897b14b7dd319d784..b6294c9e48c2140c55bed549b975fef51736b4e0 100644
--- a/cmake/external/gflags.cmake
+++ b/cmake/external/gflags.cmake
@@ -31,9 +31,14 @@ ExternalProject_Add(
     GIT_REPOSITORY  "https://github.com/gflags/gflags.git"
     PREFIX          ${GFLAGS_SOURCES_DIR}
     UPDATE_COMMAND  ""
-    CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${GFLAGS_INSTALL_DIR}
+    CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER}
+    CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=${CMAKE_C_COMPILER}
     CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE=ON
     CMAKE_ARGS      -DBUILD_TESTING=OFF
+    CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
+    CMAKE_CACHE_ARGS -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH=${GFLAGS_INSTALL_DIR}
+                     -DCMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE:BOOL=ON
+                     -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:STRING=Release
 )
 
 LIST(APPEND external_project_dependencies gflags)
diff --git a/cmake/external/glog.cmake b/cmake/external/glog.cmake
index ab105611c812a4f4b642ac5b1213fdfe93fab97d..07df0f9ba9e50a8f9341932d911ee4614088f33d 100644
--- a/cmake/external/glog.cmake
+++ b/cmake/external/glog.cmake
@@ -33,11 +33,16 @@ ExternalProject_Add(
     GIT_REPOSITORY  "https://github.com/google/glog.git"
     PREFIX          ${GLOG_SOURCES_DIR}
     UPDATE_COMMAND  ""
-    CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${GLOG_INSTALL_DIR}
+    CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER}
+    CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=${CMAKE_C_COMPILER}
     CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE=ON
     CMAKE_ARGS      -DWITH_GFLAGS=ON
     CMAKE_ARGS      -Dgflags_DIR=${GFLAGS_INSTALL_DIR}/lib/cmake/gflags
     CMAKE_ARGS      -DBUILD_TESTING=OFF
+    CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
+    CMAKE_CACHE_ARGS -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH=${GLOG_INSTALL_DIR}
+                     -DCMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE:BOOL=ON
+                     -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:STRING=Release
 )
 
 LIST(APPEND external_project_dependencies glog)
diff --git a/cmake/external/gtest.cmake b/cmake/external/gtest.cmake
index 11d829a9e2f239848803130505c9862695b25029..cdaa705ad88f1040fd45279504ae8e1b959e1f84 100644
--- a/cmake/external/gtest.cmake
+++ b/cmake/external/gtest.cmake
@@ -41,11 +41,16 @@ IF(WITH_TESTING)
         GIT_TAG         "release-1.8.0"
         PREFIX          ${GTEST_SOURCES_DIR}
         UPDATE_COMMAND  ""
-        CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH=${GTEST_INSTALL_DIR}
+        CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER}
+        CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=${CMAKE_C_COMPILER}
         CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE=ON
         CMAKE_ARGS      -DBUILD_GMOCK=ON
         CMAKE_ARGS      -Dgtest_disable_pthreads=ON
         CMAKE_ARGS      -Dgtest_force_shared_crt=ON
+        CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
+        CMAKE_CACHE_ARGS -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH=${GTEST_INSTALL_DIR}
+                         -DCMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE:BOOL=ON
+                         -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:STRING=Release
     )
     LIST(APPEND external_project_dependencies gtest)
 ENDIF(WITH_TESTING)
diff --git a/cmake/external/protobuf.cmake b/cmake/external/protobuf.cmake
index ad1426fd940c7b163668c33d41731fe75d89dd89..2a3007c8e726edce03b99115c4ac63a0e2ce6ec9 100644
--- a/cmake/external/protobuf.cmake
+++ b/cmake/external/protobuf.cmake
@@ -58,12 +58,19 @@ IF(NOT PROTOBUF_FOUND)
         GIT_TAG         "9f75c5aa851cd877fb0d93ccc31b8567a6706546"
         CONFIGURE_COMMAND
         ${CMAKE_COMMAND} ${PROTOBUF_SOURCES_DIR}/src/protobuf/cmake
-        -Dprotobuf_BUILD_TESTS=OFF
-        -DZLIB_ROOT:FILEPATH=${ZLIB_ROOT}
-        -DCMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE=ON
-        -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
-        -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${PROTOBUF_INSTALL_DIR}
-        -DCMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR=lib
+            -Dprotobuf_BUILD_TESTS=OFF
+            -DZLIB_ROOT:FILEPATH=${ZLIB_ROOT}
+            -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER}
+            -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=${CMAKE_C_COMPILER}
+            -DCMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE=ON
+            -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
+            -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${PROTOBUF_INSTALL_DIR}
+            -DCMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR=lib
+        CMAKE_CACHE_ARGS
+            -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:STRING=Release
+            -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE:BOOL=OFF
+            -DCMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE:BOOL=ON
+            -DZLIB_ROOT:STRING=${ZLIB_ROOT}
     )
 
     LIST(APPEND external_project_dependencies protobuf)
diff --git a/cmake/external/warpctc.cmake b/cmake/external/warpctc.cmake
index 172c318b35d611d0432b78f2a18eb58a7d272b90..c1c7bd4a432a0fb36580276b7997b91e370a997e 100644
--- a/cmake/external/warpctc.cmake
+++ b/cmake/external/warpctc.cmake
@@ -54,8 +54,13 @@ ExternalProject_Add(
     CMAKE_ARGS      -DWITH_GPU=${WITH_GPU}
     CMAKE_ARGS      -DWITH_OMP=${USE_OMP}
     CMAKE_ARGS      -DWITH_TORCH=OFF
-    CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_DISABLE_FIND_PACKAGE_Torch=TRUE
+    CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_DISABLE_FIND_PACKAGE_Torch=ON
     CMAKE_ARGS      -DBUILD_SHARED=ON
+    CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE=ON
+    CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
+    CMAKE_CACHE_ARGS -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:STRING=Release
+                     -DCMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE:BOOL=ON
+                     -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH=${WARPCTC_INSTALL_DIR}
 )
 
 LIST(APPEND external_project_dependencies warpctc)
diff --git a/cmake/external/zlib.cmake b/cmake/external/zlib.cmake
index 47fa8817fb64fb8fd718e2892ad5bae7bbe956eb..519d9e0f21692fc2b69f8c57b87ffb1ef56b1239 100644
--- a/cmake/external/zlib.cmake
+++ b/cmake/external/zlib.cmake
@@ -34,10 +34,16 @@ ExternalProject_Add(
     GIT_TAG         "v1.2.8"
     PREFIX          ${ZLIB_SOURCES_DIR}
     UPDATE_COMMAND  ""
+    CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER}
+    CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=${CMAKE_C_COMPILER}
     CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${ZLIB_INSTALL_DIR}
     CMAKE_ARGS      -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF
     CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE=ON
     CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_MACOSX_RPATH=ON
+    CMAKE_ARGS      -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
+    CMAKE_CACHE_ARGS -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH=${ZLIB_INSTALL_DIR}
+                     -DCMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE:BOOL=ON
+                     -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:STRING=Release
 )
 
 LIST(APPEND external_project_dependencies zlib)