diff --git a/.cargo/config.toml b/.cargo/config.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f0ad4fff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.cargo/config.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+[env]
+PCRE2_SYS_STATIC = "1"
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index a002c9c8..6713af8c 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1138,6 +1138,7 @@ version = "0.2.5"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "06085512b750d640299b79be4bad3d2fa90a9c00b1fd9e1b46364f66f0485c72"
 dependencies = [
+ "cc",
  "pkg-config",
 ]
 
@@ -1272,6 +1273,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "futures",
  "indexmap",
  "libc",
+ "libz-sys",
  "linkify",
  "melib",
  "nix",
@@ -1495,9 +1497,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "notify-rust"
-version = "4.9.0"
+version = "4.10.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "6d7b75c8958cb2eab3451538b32db8a7b74006abc33eb2e6a9a56d21e4775c2b"
+checksum = "827c5edfa80235ded4ab3fe8e9dc619b4f866ef16fe9b1c6b8a7f8692c0f2226"
 dependencies = [
  "dbus",
  "log",
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 381fd8db..6b5fff07 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ and editor of your choice to replace the defaults.
 - `cargo install --git https://git.meli.delivery/meli/meli.git meli`
 - [Download and install pre-built debian package, static linux binary](https://github.com/meli/meli/releases/ "github releases for meli"), or
 - Install with [Nix](https://search.nixos.org/packages?show=meli&query=meli&from=0&size=30&sort=relevance&channel=unstable#disabled "nixos package search results for 'meli'").
+
 ## Documentation
 
 See a comprehensive tour of `meli` in the manual page [`meli(7)`](./meli/docs/meli.7).
@@ -123,6 +124,11 @@ Some functionality is held behind "feature gates", or compile-time flags. The fo
 - `jmap` provides support for connecting to a jmap server and use it as a mail backend (on by default)
 - `sqlite3` provides support for builting fast search indexes in local sqlite3 databases (on by default)
 - `cli-docs` includes the manpage documentation compiled by either `mandoc` or `man` binary to plain text in `meli`'s command line. Embedded documentation can be viewed with the subcommand `meli man [PAGE]` (on by default).
+- `regexp` provides experimental support for theming some e-mail fields based
+  on regular expressions.
+  It uses the `pcre2` library.
+  Since it's actual use in the code is very limited, it is not recommended to use this (off by default).
+- `static` and `*-static` bundle C libraries in dependencies so that you don't need them installed in your system (on by default).
 
 ### Build Debian package (*deb*)
 
diff --git a/meli/Cargo.toml b/meli/Cargo.toml
index 3d3b0d59..1a2581f4 100644
--- a/meli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/meli/Cargo.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ version = "0.8.2"
 authors = ["Manos Pitsidianakis <manos@pitsidianak.is>"]
 edition = "2021"
 rust-version = "1.65.0"
-
 license = "GPL-3.0-or-later"
 readme = "README.md"
 description = "terminal mail client"
@@ -30,13 +29,12 @@ flate2 = { version = "1", optional = true }
 futures = "0.3.5"
 indexmap = { version = "^1.6", features = ["serde-1"] }
 libc = { version = "0.2.125", default-features = false, features = ["extra_traits"] }
+libz-sys = { version = "1.1", features = ["static"], optional = true }
 linkify = { version = "^0.8", default-features = false }
 melib = { path = "../melib", version = "0.8.2" }
 nix = { version = "^0.24", default-features = false }
 notify = { version = "4.0.1", default-features = false } # >:c
 num_cpus = "1.12.0"
-pcre2 = { version = "0.2.3", optional = true }
-
 serde = "1.0.71"
 serde_derive = "1.0.71"
 serde_json = "1.0"
@@ -49,6 +47,12 @@ termion = { version = "1.5.1", default-features = false }
 toml = { version = "0.5.6", default-features = false, features = ["preserve_order"] }
 xdg = "2.1.0"
 
+[dependencies.pcre2]
+# An [env] entry in .cargo/config.toml should force a static build instead of
+# looking for a system library.
+version = "0.2.3"
+optional = true
+
 [target.'cfg(target_os="linux")'.dependencies]
 notify-rust = { version = "^4", default-features = false, features = ["dbus"], optional = true }
 
@@ -65,23 +69,25 @@ regex = "1"
 tempfile = "3.3"
 
 [features]
-default = ["sqlite3", "notmuch", "smtp", "dbus-notifications", "gpgme", "cli-docs", "jmap", "text-processing"]
+default = ["sqlite3", "notmuch", "smtp", "dbus-notifications", "gpgme", "cli-docs", "jmap", "text-processing", "static"]
 notmuch = ["melib/notmuch"]
 jmap = ["melib/jmap"]
 sqlite3 = ["melib/sqlite3"]
 smtp = ["melib/smtp"]
 smtp-trace = ["smtp", "melib/smtp-trace"]
-regexp = ["pcre2"]
-dbus-notifications = ["notify-rust"]
-cli-docs = ["flate2"]
-svgscreenshot = ["svg_crate"]
+regexp = ["dep:pcre2"]
+dbus-notifications = ["dep:notify-rust"]
+cli-docs = ["dep:flate2"]
+svgscreenshot = ["dep:svg_crate"]
 text-processing = ["melib/unicode-algorithms"]
 gpgme = ["melib/gpgme"]
 # Static / vendoring features.
 tls-static = ["melib/tls-static"]
 http-static = ["melib/http-static"]
 sqlite3-static = ["melib/sqlite3-static"]
-static = ["tls-static", "http-static", "sqlite3-static"]
+dbus-static = ["dep:notify-rust", "notify-rust/d_vendored"]
+libz-static = ["dep:libz-sys", "libz-sys/static"]
+static = ["tls-static", "http-static", "sqlite3-static", "dbus-static", "libz-static"]
 
 # Print tracing logs as meli runs in stderr
 # enable for debug tracing logs: build with --features=debug-tracing and export MELI_DEBUG_STDERR