diff --git a/webrtc/base/base.gyp b/webrtc/base/base.gyp
index 5cb1fd9bfe..d8972277d4 100644
--- a/webrtc/base/base.gyp
+++ b/webrtc/base/base.gyp
@@ -452,8 +452,22 @@
             ],
           },
         }, {
-          'dependencies': [
-            '<(DEPTH)/third_party/jsoncpp/jsoncpp.gyp:jsoncpp',
+          'conditions': [
+            ['external_libraries==0', {
+              'dependencies': [
+                '<(DEPTH)/third_party/jsoncpp/jsoncpp.gyp:jsoncpp',
+              ],
+            }, {
+              'include_dirs': [
+                '<(json_root)',
+              ],
+              'defines': [
+                # When defined changes the include path for json.h to where it
+                # is expected to be when building json outside of the standalone
+                # build.
+                'WEBRTC_EXTERNAL',
+              ],
+            }],
           ],
           'sources!': [
             '../overrides/webrtc/base/basictypes.h',
@@ -474,8 +488,16 @@
               'HAVE_OPENSSL_SSL_H',
             ],
           },
-          'dependencies': [
-            '<(DEPTH)/third_party/openssl/openssl.gyp:openssl',
+          'conditions': [
+            ['external_libraries==0', {
+              'dependencies': [
+                '<(DEPTH)/third_party/openssl/openssl.gyp:openssl',
+              ],
+            }, {
+              'include_dirs': [
+                '<(ssl_root)',
+              ],
+            }],
           ],
         }, {
           'defines': [
@@ -533,8 +555,16 @@
               ],
             },
           },
-          'dependencies': [
-            '<(DEPTH)/net/third_party/nss/ssl.gyp:libssl',
+           'conditions': [
+            ['external_libraries==0', {
+              'dependencies': [
+                '<(DEPTH)/net/third_party/nss/ssl.gyp:libssl',
+              ]
+            }, {
+              'include_dirs': [
+                '<(ssl_root)',
+              ],
+            }],
           ],
         }],
         ['OS=="linux"', {
@@ -693,15 +723,31 @@
           ],
         }],
         ['OS == "mac" or OS == "ios" or OS == "win"', {
-          'dependencies': [
-            '<(DEPTH)/net/third_party/nss/ssl.gyp:libssl',
-            '<(DEPTH)/third_party/nss/nss.gyp:nspr',
-            '<(DEPTH)/third_party/nss/nss.gyp:nss',
+          'conditions': [
+            ['external_libraries==0', {
+              'dependencies': [
+                '<(DEPTH)/net/third_party/nss/ssl.gyp:libssl',
+                '<(DEPTH)/third_party/nss/nss.gyp:nspr',
+                '<(DEPTH)/third_party/nss/nss.gyp:nss',
+              ],
+            }, {
+              'include_dirs': [
+                '<(ssl_root)',
+              ],
+            }],
           ],
         }],
         ['os_posix == 1 and OS != "mac" and OS != "ios" and OS != "android"', {
-          'dependencies': [
-            '<(DEPTH)/build/linux/system.gyp:ssl',
+          'conditions': [
+            ['external_libraries==0', {
+              'dependencies': [
+                '<(DEPTH)/build/linux/system.gyp:ssl',
+              ],
+            }, {
+              'include_dirs': [
+                '<(ssl_root)',
+              ],
+            }],
           ],
         }],
       ],
diff --git a/webrtc/build/common.gypi b/webrtc/build/common.gypi
index da96c1d3c1..5625c33255 100644
--- a/webrtc/build/common.gypi
+++ b/webrtc/build/common.gypi
@@ -54,6 +54,12 @@
     'webrtc_vp8_dir%': '<(webrtc_vp8_dir)',
     'include_opus%': '<(include_opus)',
     'rbe_components_path%': '<(rbe_components_path)',
+    'external_libraries%': '0',
+    'json_root%': '<(DEPTH)/third_party/jsoncpp/source/include/',
+    # openssl needs to be defined or gyp will complain. Is is only used when
+    # when providing external libraries so just use current directory as a
+    # placeholder.
+    'ssl_root%': '.',
 
     # The Chromium common.gypi we use treats all gyp files without
     # chromium_code==1 as third party code. This disables many of the