diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..876130392
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule "gdal-src/source"]
+	path = gdal-src/source
+	url = https://github.com/OSGeo/gdal
diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index cba870e20..1d8b895d0 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # Changes
 
 ## Unreleased
+- Add a `bundled` feature for `gdal-sys` that allows to build and statically link a minimal bundled version of gdal during `cargo build`
 - Add `DriverIterator` format to iterate through drivers, as well as `DriverManager::all()` method that provides the iterator.
   - <https://github.com/georust/gdal/pull/512>
 
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 0c0ef3c1d..32a36ce9c 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ tempfile = "3.8"
 arrow2 = "0.18"
 
 [workspace]
-members = ["gdal-sys"]
+members = [ "gdal-src","gdal-sys"]
 
 # docs.rs-specific configuration
 [package.metadata.docs.rs]
@@ -44,3 +44,8 @@ members = ["gdal-sys"]
 features = ["array"]
 # define attribute `docsrs` for feature badges
 rustdoc-args = ["--cfg", "docsrs"]
+
+
+[patch.crates-io]
+proj-sys = { git = "https://github.com/GiGainfosystems/proj", rev = "54716dd8955d4f0561ce9bf8a83610b605e3c007" }
+libsqlite3-sys = { git = "https://github.com/rusqlite/rusqlite/", rev = "42a82fb" }
diff --git a/gdal-src/Cargo.toml b/gdal-src/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6267432cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gdal-src/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+[package]
+name = "gdal-src"
+version = "0.1.0"
+edition = "2021"
+
+# See more keys and their definitions at https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/manifest.html
+
+[dependencies]
+proj-sys = { version = "0.23.2", features = ["bundled_proj"] }
+libsqlite3-sys = { version = "0.27.0", features = ["bundled"] }
+
+[build-dependencies]
+cmake = "0.1.50"
diff --git a/gdal-src/build.rs b/gdal-src/build.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..66a42f751
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gdal-src/build.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+fn main() {
+    let sqlite3_include_dir =
+        std::env::var("DEP_SQLITE3_INCLUDE").expect("This is set by libsqlite3-sys");
+    let sqlite3_lib_dir = std::env::var("DEP_SQLITE3_LIB_DIR").expect("set by libsqlite3-sys");
+    let proj_root = PathBuf::from(std::env::var("DEP_PROJ_ROOT").expect("set by proj-sys"));
+    let proj_lib = if proj_root.join("lib").join("proj_d.lib").exists() {
+        "proj_d.lib"
+    } else if proj_root.join("lib").join("proj.lib").exists() {
+        "proj.lib"
+    } else {
+        "libproj.a"
+    };
+
+    let res = cmake::Config::new("source")
+        .define("GDAL_BUILD_OPTIONAL_DRIVERS", "OFF")
+        .define("OGR_BUILD_OPTIONAL_DRIVERS", "OFF")
+        .define("GDAL_USE_INTERNAL_LIBS", "ON")
+        .define("GDAL_USE_EXTERNAL_LIBS", "OFF")
+        .define("BUILD_SHARED_LIBS", "OFF")
+        .define("BUILD_STATIC_LIBS", "ON")
+        .define("BUILD_APPS", "OFF")
+        .define("BUILD_DOCS", "OFF")
+        .define("BUILD_TESTING", "OFF")
+        .define("BUILD_GMOCK", "OFF")
+        .define("PROJ_INCLUDE_DIR", format!("{proj_root}/include"))
+        .define("PROJ_LIBRARY", format!("{proj_root}/lib/{proj_lib}"))
+        // enable the gpkg driver
+        .define("GDAL_USE_SQLITE3", "ON")
+        .define("SQLite3_INCLUDE_DIR", sqlite3_include_dir)
+        .define("SQLite3_LIBRARY", format!("{sqlite3_lib_dir}/libsqlite3.a"))
+        .define("OGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_GPKG", "ON")
+        .pic(true)
+        .build();
+
+    // sometimes it's lib and sometimes it's lib64 and sometimes `build/lib`
+    let lib_dir = res.join("lib64");
+    println!(
+        "cargo:rustc-link-search=native={}",
+        lib_dir.to_str().unwrap()
+    );
+    let lib_dir = res.join("lib");
+    println!(
+        "cargo:rustc-link-search=native={}",
+        lib_dir.to_str().unwrap()
+    );
+    let lib_dir = res.join("build/lib");
+    println!(
+        "cargo:rustc-link-search=native={}",
+        lib_dir.to_str().unwrap()
+    );
+
+    //gdal likes to create gdal_d when configured as debug and on MSVC, so link to that one if it exists
+    if res.join("lib").join("gdald.lib").exists() {
+        println!("cargo:rustc-link-lib=static=gdald");
+    } else {
+        println!("cargo:rustc-link-lib=static=gdal");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/gdal-src/source b/gdal-src/source
new file mode 160000
index 000000000..654f4907a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gdal-src/source
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 654f4907abbbf6bf4226d58a8c067d134eaf3ce9
diff --git a/gdal-src/src/lib.rs b/gdal-src/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b40735f84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gdal-src/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+extern crate libsqlite3_sys;
+extern crate proj_sys;
diff --git a/gdal-sys/Cargo.toml b/gdal-sys/Cargo.toml
index 4a2cad506..8a16045ad 100644
--- a/gdal-sys/Cargo.toml
+++ b/gdal-sys/Cargo.toml
@@ -12,8 +12,14 @@ links="gdal"
 
 [dependencies]
 libc = "0.2"
+gdal-src = { path = "../gdal-src/", optional = true}
 
 [build-dependencies]
 bindgen = { version = "0.69", optional = true }
 pkg-config = "0.3"
 semver = "1.0"
+
+
+[features]
+default = []
+bundled = ["dep:gdal-src"]
diff --git a/gdal-sys/build.rs b/gdal-sys/build.rs
index 0fccd63bc..c927a1288 100644
--- a/gdal-sys/build.rs
+++ b/gdal-sys/build.rs
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ fn main() {
 
     // Hardcode a prebuilt binding version while generating docs.
     // Otherwise docs.rs will explode due to not actually having libgdal installed.
-    if std::env::var("DOCS_RS").is_ok() {
+    if std::env::var("DOCS_RS").is_ok() || cfg!(feature = "bundled") {
         let version = Version::parse("3.8.0").expect("invalid version for docs.rs");
         println!(
             "cargo:rustc-cfg=gdal_sys_{}_{}_{}",
diff --git a/gdal-sys/src/lib.rs b/gdal-sys/src/lib.rs
index 98d15c1b7..f8c611e1a 100644
--- a/gdal-sys/src/lib.rs
+++ b/gdal-sys/src/lib.rs
@@ -4,4 +4,7 @@
 #![allow(clippy::upper_case_acronyms)]
 #![allow(rustdoc::bare_urls)]
 
+#[cfg(feature = "bundled")]
+extern crate gdal_src;
+
 include!(concat!(env!("OUT_DIR"), "/bindings.rs"));