diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 6202498..b4a28a1 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -7,6 +7,17 @@
 #Minimum required CMake Version
 cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8.12)
 
+# Only set the cxx_standard if it is not set by someone else
+if (NOT DEFINED CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD)
+  set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 14)
+endif()
+
+# strongly encouraged to enable this globally to avoid conflicts between
+# -Wpedantic being enabled and -std=c++20 and -std=gnu++20 for example
+# when compiling with PCH enabled
+set(CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS OFF)
+
+
 #Project Name
 PROJECT(NCXX C CXX)
 set(PACKAGE "netcdf-cxx4" CACHE STRING "")