diff --git a/build/cmake/DefineCMakeDefaults.cmake b/build/cmake/DefineCMakeDefaults.cmake
index 7073e8e..365c0a4 100644
--- a/build/cmake/DefineCMakeDefaults.cmake
+++ b/build/cmake/DefineCMakeDefaults.cmake
@@ -68,3 +68,20 @@
 # locations and running the executables without LD_PRELOAD or similar.
 # This requires the library to be built with rpath support.
 set(CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH_USE_LINK_PATH TRUE)
+
+#
+# C++ Language Level Defaults
+#
+if (NOT DEFINED CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD)
+  set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 11) # C++11
+  message(STATUS "Setting C++11 as the default language level.")
+  message(STATUS "To specify a different C++ language level, set CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD")
+endif()
+
+if (NOT DEFINED CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED)
+  set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED OFF) # can degrade to C++98 if compiler does not support C++11
+endif()
+
+if (NOT DEFINED CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS)
+  set(CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS OFF)        # use standards compliant language level for portability
+endif()
diff --git a/build/cmake/DefineOptions.cmake b/build/cmake/DefineOptions.cmake
index 93fe2c0..63981e9 100644
--- a/build/cmake/DefineOptions.cmake
+++ b/build/cmake/DefineOptions.cmake
@@ -173,6 +173,7 @@
 message(STATUS "  Build C++ library:                          ${BUILD_CPP}")
 MESSAGE_DEP(WITH_CPP "Disabled by WITH_CPP=OFF")
 MESSAGE_DEP(Boost_FOUND "Boost headers missing")
+message(STATUS "    C++ Language Level:                       ${CXX_LANGUAGE_LEVEL}")
 message(STATUS "  Build C (GLib) library:                     ${BUILD_C_GLIB}")
 MESSAGE_DEP(WITH_C_GLIB "Disabled by WITH_C_GLIB=OFF")
 MESSAGE_DEP(GLIB_FOUND "GLib missing")
diff --git a/build/cmake/DefinePlatformSpecifc.cmake b/build/cmake/DefinePlatformSpecifc.cmake
index e8479bc..d5d27e2 100644
--- a/build/cmake/DefinePlatformSpecifc.cmake
+++ b/build/cmake/DefinePlatformSpecifc.cmake
@@ -98,12 +98,23 @@
   add_definitions("-DUSE_STD_THREAD=1")
 endif()
 
-# GCC and Clang: use C++11
-if(CMAKE_COMPILER_IS_GNUCC OR CMAKE_COMPILER_IS_GNUCXX OR CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID MATCHES "Clang")
-  if(CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_VERSION VERSION_GREATER "4.6.4")
-    set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -std=c++11")
+# C++ Language Level
+set(CXX_LANGUAGE_LEVEL "C++${CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD}")
+if (CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED)
+  string(CONCAT CXX_LANGUAGE_LEVEL "${CXX_LANGUAGE_LEVEL} [compiler must support it]")
+else()
+  string(CONCAT CXX_LANGUAGE_LEVEL "${CXX_LANGUAGE_LEVEL} [fallback to earlier if compiler does not support it]")
+endif()
+if (CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS)
+  string(CONCAT CXX_LANGUAGE_LEVEL "${CXX_LANGUAGE_LEVEL} [with compiler-specific extensions]")
+else()
+  if ((CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID MATCHES "GNU" OR CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID MATCHES "Clang") AND NOT MINGW)
+    set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -Wno-variadic-macros -Wno-long-long -Wno-c++11-long-long")
   endif()
-  set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -O2 -Wall -Wextra -pedantic")
+endif()
+
+if (CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID MATCHES "Clang")
+  set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -Wno-deprecated-register")
 endif()
 
 # If gcc older than 4.8 is detected and plugin support was requested, fail fast