diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/dbcsr/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/dbcsr/package.py
index af1ba5f749..53bef55ca8 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/dbcsr/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/dbcsr/package.py
@@ -28,12 +28,13 @@ def cmake_args(self):
             '-DUSE_MPI=%s' % ('ON' if '+mpi' in spec else 'OFF'),
             '-DUSE_OPENMP=%s' % (
                 'ON' if '+openmp' in spec else 'OFF'),
-            '-DWITH_C_API=ON',
+            # C API need MPI
+            '-DWITH_C_API=%s' % ('ON' if '+mpi' in spec else 'OFF'),
             '-DLAPACK_FOUND=true',
             '-DLAPACK_LIBRARIES=%s' % spec['lapack'].libs.joined(';'),
             '-DBLAS_FOUND=true',
             '-DBLAS_LIBRARIES=%s' % spec['blas'].libs.joined(';'),
-            '-DWITH_EXAMPLES=OFF',
+            '-DWITH_EXAMPLES=ON',
             '-DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON'
         ]