diff --git a/scm/doc/TechGuide/chap_quick.tex b/scm/doc/TechGuide/chap_quick.tex
index 44fa9b15d..e6e3198b0 100644
--- a/scm/doc/TechGuide/chap_quick.tex
+++ b/scm/doc/TechGuide/chap_quick.tex
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ \section{System Requirements, Libraries, and Tools}
     \item cmake 2.8.12.1, 2.8.12.2, and 3.6.2
     \item netCDF 4.3.0, 4.4.0, 4.4.1.1, 4.5.0, 4.6.1 and 4.6.3 (not 3.x) with HDF5, ZLIB and SZIP
     \item Python 2.7.5, 2.7.9, and 2.7.13 (not 3.x)
-    \item Libxml2 2.2 and 2.9.7 (not 2.9.9)
+    \item Libxml2 2.2, 2.9.7, 2.9.9
 \end{itemize}
 
 Because these tools and libraries are typically the purview of system administrators to install and maintain, they are considered  part of the basic system requirements.
@@ -157,7 +157,10 @@ \section{Compiling SCM with CCPP}
 \begin{lstlisting}[language=bash]
 -DPC_LIBXML_INCLUDEDIR=... -DPC_LIBXML_LIBDIR=...
 \end{lstlisting}
-    to the cmake command.
+    to the cmake command. If a compilation error appears related to \execout{libxml2}, namely that a unicode file is not found in the include path, add the appropriate include path to the \execout{CFLAGS} environment variable
+\begin{lstlisting}[language=bash]
+export CFLAGS="-I/include_path"
+\end{lstlisting} before cleaning out the \execout{bin} directory and rerunning \execout{cmake}.
     \item Compile. Add \execout{VERBOSE=1} to obtain more information on the build process.
 \begin{lstlisting}[language=bash]
 make
diff --git a/scm/doc/TechGuide/main.pdf b/scm/doc/TechGuide/main.pdf
index cf149b9aa..ca67ac04e 100644
Binary files a/scm/doc/TechGuide/main.pdf and b/scm/doc/TechGuide/main.pdf differ
diff --git a/scm/src/CMakeLists.txt b/scm/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 93c8972fa..c638251ce 100644
--- a/scm/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/scm/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -80,9 +80,22 @@ endif()
 # Set compile options
 if (${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE} MATCHES "Debug")
   # Basic settings
-  set (CMAKE_C_FLAGS       "-O0 -g -fPIC" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
-  set (CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS     "-O0 -g -fPIC" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
-  set (CMAKE_Fortran_FLAGS "-O0 -g -fPIC" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
+  #if CFLAGS, CXX_FLAGS, or FFLAGS are defined via environment variables, use them
+  if (DEFINED ENV{CFLAGS})
+    set (CMAKE_C_FLAGS       "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -O0 -g -fPIC" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
+  else (DEFINED ENV{CFLAGS})
+    set (CMAKE_C_FLAGS       "-O0 -g -fPIC" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
+  endif (DEFINED ENV{CFLAGS})
+  if (DEFINED ENV{CXXFLAGS})
+    set (CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS     "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -O0 -g -fPIC" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
+  else (DEFINED ENV{CXXFLAGS})
+    set (CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS     "-O0 -g -fPIC" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
+  endif (DEFINED ENV{CXXFLAGS})
+  if (DEFINED ENV{FFLAGS})
+    set (CMAKE_Fortran_FLAGS "${CMAKE_Fortran_FLAGS} -O0 -g -fPIC" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
+  else (DEFINED ENV{FFLAGS})
+    set (CMAKE_Fortran_FLAGS "-O0 -g -fPIC" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
+  endif (DEFINED ENV{FFLAGS})
   # Compiler-dependent settings
   if (${CMAKE_Fortran_COMPILER_ID} MATCHES "GNU")
     set (CMAKE_C_FLAGS       "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -ggdb")
@@ -100,9 +113,22 @@ if (${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE} MATCHES "Debug")
     message (FATAL_ERROR "This program has only been compiled with gfortran, pgf90 and ifort. If another compiler is needed, the appropriate flags must be added in ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/CMakeLists.txt")
   endif (${CMAKE_Fortran_COMPILER_ID} MATCHES "GNU")
 elseif (${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE} MATCHES "Release")
-  set (CMAKE_C_FLAGS       "-O2 -g -fPIC" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
-  set (CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS     "-O2 -g -fPIC" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
-  set (CMAKE_Fortran_FLAGS "-O2 -g -fPIC" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
+  #if CFLAGS, CXX_FLAGS, or FFLAGS are defined via environment variables, use them
+  if (DEFINED ENV{CFLAGS})
+    set (CMAKE_C_FLAGS       "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -O2 -g -fPIC" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
+  else (DEFINED ENV{CFLAGS})
+    set (CMAKE_C_FLAGS       "-O2 -g -fPIC" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
+  endif (DEFINED ENV{CFLAGS})
+  if (DEFINED ENV{CXXFLAGS})
+    set (CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS     "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -O2 -g -fPIC" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
+  else (DEFINED ENV{CXXFLAGS})
+    set (CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS     "-O2 -g -fPIC" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
+  endif (DEFINED ENV{CXXFLAGS})
+  if (DEFINED ENV{FFLAGS})
+    set (CMAKE_Fortran_FLAGS "${CMAKE_Fortran_FLAGS} -O2 -g -fPIC" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
+  else (DEFINED ENV{FFLAGS})
+    set (CMAKE_Fortran_FLAGS "-O2 -g -fPIC" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
+  endif (DEFINED ENV{FFLAGS})
   # Compiler-dependent settings
   if (${CMAKE_Fortran_COMPILER_ID} MATCHES "GNU")
     set (CMAKE_Fortran_FLAGS  "${CMAKE_Fortran_FLAGS} -ffree-line-length-none -cpp -fdefault-real-8")