diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1d64c50f1..7b4e38157 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -45,10 +45,10 @@ To simplify installation, aws-crt-python has its own copy of libcrypto.
 This lets you install a wheel from PyPI without having OpenSSL installed.
 Unix wheels on PyPI come with libcrypto statically compiled in.
 Code to build libcrypto comes from [AWS-LC](https://github.com/aws/aws-lc).
-AWS-LC's code is included in the PyPI source package, 
+AWS-LC's code is included in the PyPI source package,
 and the git repository includes it as a submodule.
 
-If you need aws-crt-python to use the libcrypto included on your system, 
+If you need aws-crt-python to use the libcrypto included on your system,
 set environment variable `AWS_CRT_BUILD_USE_SYSTEM_LIBCRYPTO=1` while building from source:
 
 ```sh
@@ -59,6 +59,19 @@ AWS_CRT_BUILD_USE_SYSTEM_LIBCRYPTO=1 python3 -m pip install --no-binary :all: --
 You can ignore all this on Windows and Apple platforms, where aws-crt-python
 uses the OS's default libraries for TLS and cryptography math.
 
+### AWS_CRT_BUILD_USE_SYSTEM_LIBS ###
+
+aws-crt-python depends on several C libraries that make up the AWS Common Runtime (libaws-c-common, libaws-c-s3, etc).
+By default, these libraries are built along with aws-crt-python and statically compiled in
+(their source code is under [crt/](crt/)).
+
+To skip building these dependencies, because they're already available on your system,
+set environment variable `AWS_CRT_BUILD_USE_SYSTEM_LIBS=1` while building from source:
+
+```sh
+AWS_CRT_BUILD_USE_SYSTEM_LIBS=1 python3 -m pip install .
+```
+
 ## Mac-Only TLS Behavior
 
 Please note that on Mac, once a private key is used with a certificate, that certificate-key pair is imported into the Mac Keychain. All subsequent uses of that certificate will use the stored private key and ignore anything passed in programmatically. Beginning in v0.6.2, when a stored private key from the Keychain is used, the following will be logged at the "info" log level:
diff --git a/awscrt/auth.py b/awscrt/auth.py
index a41648854..9afa78c36 100644
--- a/awscrt/auth.py
+++ b/awscrt/auth.py
@@ -507,7 +507,7 @@ class AwsSignedBodyHeaderType(IntEnum):
     """Do not add a header."""
 
     X_AMZ_CONTENT_SHA_256 = 1
-    """Add the "x-amz-content-sha-256" header with the canonical request's signed body value"""
+    """Add the "x-amz-content-sha256" header with the canonical request's signed body value"""
 
 
 class AwsSigningConfig(NativeResource):
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 32873b2b0..13dd63103 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -134,8 +134,14 @@ def get_cmake_path():
     raise Exception("CMake must be installed to build from source.")
 
 
+def using_system_libs():
+    """If true, don't build any dependencies. Use the libs that are already on the system."""
+    return os.getenv('AWS_CRT_BUILD_USE_SYSTEM_LIBS') == '1'
+
+
 def using_system_libcrypto():
-    return os.getenv('AWS_CRT_BUILD_USE_SYSTEM_LIBCRYPTO') == '1'
+    """If true, don't build AWS-LC. Use the libcrypto that's already on the system."""
+    return using_system_libs() or os.getenv('AWS_CRT_BUILD_USE_SYSTEM_LIBCRYPTO') == '1'
 
 
 class AwsLib:
@@ -223,7 +229,10 @@ def _build_dependencies_impl(self, build_dir, install_path, osx_arch=None):
         ]
         run_cmd(build_cmd)
 
-    def _build_dependencies(self, build_dir, install_path):
+    def _build_dependencies(self):
+        build_dir = os.path.join(self.build_temp, 'deps')
+        install_path = os.path.join(self.build_temp, 'deps', 'install')
+
         if is_macos_universal2() and not is_development_mode():
             # create macOS universal binary by compiling for x86_64 and arm64,
             # each in its own subfolder, and then creating a universal binary
@@ -266,30 +275,28 @@ def _build_dependencies(self, build_dir, install_path):
             # normal build for a single architecture
             self._build_dependencies_impl(build_dir, install_path)
 
-    def run(self):
-        # build dependencies
-        dep_build_dir = os.path.join(self.build_temp, 'deps')
-        dep_install_path = os.path.join(self.build_temp, 'deps', 'install')
-
-        if os.path.exists(os.path.join(PROJECT_DIR, 'crt', 'aws-c-common', 'CMakeLists.txt')):
-            self._build_dependencies(dep_build_dir, dep_install_path)
-        else:
-            print("Skip building dependencies, source not found.")
-
         # update paths so awscrt_ext can access dependencies.
         # add to the front of any list so that our dependencies are preferred
         # over anything that might already be on the system (i.e. libcrypto.a)
 
-        self.include_dirs.insert(0, os.path.join(dep_install_path, 'include'))
+        self.include_dirs.insert(0, os.path.join(install_path, 'include'))
 
         # some platforms (ex: fedora) use /lib64 instead of just /lib
         lib_dir = 'lib'
-        if is_64bit() and os.path.exists(os.path.join(dep_install_path, 'lib64')):
+        if is_64bit() and os.path.exists(os.path.join(install_path, 'lib64')):
             lib_dir = 'lib64'
-        if is_32bit() and os.path.exists(os.path.join(dep_install_path, 'lib32')):
+        if is_32bit() and os.path.exists(os.path.join(install_path, 'lib32')):
             lib_dir = 'lib32'
 
-        self.library_dirs.insert(0, os.path.join(dep_install_path, lib_dir))
+        self.library_dirs.insert(0, os.path.join(install_path, lib_dir))
+
+    def run(self):
+        if using_system_libs():
+            print("Skip building dependencies, using system libs.")
+        elif not os.path.exists(os.path.join(PROJECT_DIR, 'crt', 'aws-c-common', 'CMakeLists.txt')):
+            print("Skip building dependencies, source not found.")
+        else:
+            self._build_dependencies()
 
         # continue with normal build_ext.run()
         super().run()