diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index 7ed43878970bcfd4da3fe78efc5279a5a4f1d314..18948c5b4842e070af0d0c36854cde6e816a35f5 100755
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ _basens=
 _sparqlendpoint=
 _chown=
 _chmod=
+_component=
 
 options=$@
 
@@ -179,8 +180,14 @@ cat $root_htaccess >> $parent_htaccess
 echo "RewriteRule ^(.+)\$ $home/index.php?q=\$1 [L]" >> $parent_htaccess
 echo "</IfModule>" >> $parent_htaccess
 mkdir -p cache
-cp -r doc/examples/originalComponents components
-mkdir -p components/uris
+
+if [ ! -z "$_components" ]; then
+  cp -r doc/examples/originalComponents components
+  mkdir -p components/uris
+else
+  ln -s "$_components"
+done
+
 bold=`tput bold`
 normal=`tput sgr0`
 wwwUser=`ps aux|egrep "apache|httpd|www" |egrep -v "grep|root"|awk '{print $1}'|uniq|tail -1`  
diff --git a/utils/install b/utils/install
index 1928a7b3fb6e8f5770cdf46799d326b1ee7b9a3a..882f683bd807eb1b180beb8350b1c1cb4e18fa2d 100644
--- a/utils/install
+++ b/utils/install
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ _basens=
 _sparqlendpoint=
 _chown=
 _chmod=
+_components=
 
 options=$@
 
@@ -55,6 +56,9 @@ for argument in $options
       chmod=*) val=${argument#*=};
                   opt=${argument%=$val};
                   _chmod="chmod=${val}" ;;
+      components=*) val=${argument#*=};
+                  opt=${argument%=$val};
+                  _components="components=${val}" ;;
     esac
   done