diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index f8cb8a4e..99e694a4 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ project(exiv2          # use TWEAK to categorize the build
                        # 0.27.3.19 = RC1 Not for release
     LANGUAGES CXX C
 )
-
 include(cmake/mainSetup.cmake  REQUIRED)
 
 # options and their default values
@@ -29,8 +28,9 @@ option( EXIV2_ENABLE_SSH              "USE Libssh for SshIo (WEBREADY)"
 
 option( EXIV2_BUILD_SAMPLES           "Build sample applications"                             ON  )
 option( EXIV2_BUILD_EXIV2_COMMAND     "Build exiv2 command-line executable"                   ON  )
-option( EXIV2_BUILD_UNIT_TESTS        "Build unit tests"                                      OFF )
+option( EXIV2_BUILD_UNIT_TESTS        "Build unit tests"                                      ON  )
 option( EXIV2_BUILD_DOC               "Add 'doc' target to generate documentation"            OFF )
+option( EXIV2_BUILD_USE_C++11         "Use the C++11 compiler"                                OFF )
 
 # Only intended to be used by Exiv2 developers/contributors
 option( EXIV2_TEAM_EXTRA_WARNINGS     "Add more sanity checks using compiler flags"           OFF )
diff --git a/cmake/compilerFlags.cmake b/cmake/compilerFlags.cmake
index e2a15abb..9a0f4565 100644
--- a/cmake/compilerFlags.cmake
+++ b/cmake/compilerFlags.cmake
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # These flags applies to exiv2lib, the applications, and to the xmp code
 
+if ( EXIV2_BUILD_USE_C++11 ) 
+    set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 11) 
+endif()
+
 if ( MINGW OR UNIX OR MSYS ) # MINGW, Linux, APPLE, CYGWIN
     if (${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID} STREQUAL GNU)
         set(COMPILER_IS_GCC ON)
@@ -22,10 +26,6 @@ if ( MINGW OR UNIX OR MSYS ) # MINGW, Linux, APPLE, CYGWIN
 
 
     if (COMPILER_IS_GCC OR COMPILER_IS_CLANG)
-        # On Solaris target_compile_features(${application} PRIVATE cxx_std_98) fails to set this flag
-        if ( CMAKE_HOST_SOLARIS ) 
-            add_compile_options(-std=gnu++98)
-        endif()
 
         # This fails under Fedora, MinGW GCC 8.3.0 and CYGWIN/MSYS 9.3.0
         if (NOT (MINGW OR CMAKE_HOST_SOLARIS OR CYGWIN OR MSYS) )
@@ -58,7 +58,6 @@ if ( MINGW OR UNIX OR MSYS ) # MINGW, Linux, APPLE, CYGWIN
         # This seems to be causing issues in the Fedora_MinGW GitLab job
         #add_compile_options(-fasynchronous-unwind-tables)
 
-
         if ( EXIV2_TEAM_USE_SANITIZERS )
             # ASAN is available in gcc from 4.8 and UBSAN from 4.9
             # ASAN is available in clang from 3.1 and UBSAN from 3.3
@@ -90,6 +89,10 @@ if ( MINGW OR UNIX OR MSYS ) # MINGW, Linux, APPLE, CYGWIN
             endif()
         endif()
     endif()
+    if ( EXIV2_BUILD_USE_C++11 ) 
+        set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -Wno-deprecated")
+        set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS}     -Wno-deprecated")
+    endif()
 endif ()
 
 # http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10113017/setting-the-msvc-runtime-in-cmake
diff --git a/cmake/printSummary.cmake b/cmake/printSummary.cmake
index fefd709b..b3e804bd 100644
--- a/cmake/printSummary.cmake
+++ b/cmake/printSummary.cmake
@@ -49,6 +49,9 @@ if    ( EXIV2_ENABLE_EXTERNAL_XMP )
 else()
     OptionOutput( "XMP metadata support:               " EXIV2_ENABLE_XMP            )
 endif()
+if ( EXIV2_BUILD_USE_C++11 )
+ OptionOutput("Use C++11:                          " EXIV2_BUILD_USE_C++11           )
+endif()
 OptionOutput( "Native language support:            " EXIV2_ENABLE_NLS                )
 OptionOutput( "Conversion of Windows XP tags:      " EXIV2_ENABLE_PRINTUCS2          )
 OptionOutput( "Nikon lens database:                " EXIV2_ENABLE_LENSDATA           )
diff --git a/include/exiv2/config.h b/include/exiv2/config.h
index b31ceb1f..f98896d3 100644
--- a/include/exiv2/config.h
+++ b/include/exiv2/config.h
@@ -93,5 +93,15 @@ typedef int pid_t;
 #endif
 //////////////////////////////////////
 
+// https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/291141/how-to-handle-design-changes-for-auto-ptr-deprecation-in-c11
+#if __cplusplus >= 201103L
+  #include <memory>
+  #include <sys/types.h>
+  #include <unistd.h>
+  template <typename T>
+  using auto_ptr = std::unique_ptr<T>;
+#else
+  using std::auto_ptr;
+#endif
 
 #endif // _CONFIG_H_
diff --git a/samples/CMakeLists.txt b/samples/CMakeLists.txt
index f7c3e2a3..7628110d 100644
--- a/samples/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/samples/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -120,7 +120,6 @@ list(APPEND APPLICATIONS remotetest)
 # ******************************************************************************
 foreach(application ${APPLICATIONS})
     target_link_libraries(${application} PRIVATE exiv2lib)
-    target_compile_features(${application} PRIVATE cxx_std_98)
     if( EXIV2_ENABLE_PNG )
         target_link_libraries( ${application} PRIVATE ${ZLIB_LIBRARIES} )
     endif()
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 29bbf50e..279b22a7 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -91,10 +91,6 @@ generate_export_header(exiv2lib
     STATIC_DEFINE exiv2lib_STATIC
 )
 
-target_compile_features(exiv2lib_int PRIVATE cxx_std_98)
-target_compile_features(exiv2lib PRIVATE cxx_std_98)
-
-
 # Conditional addition of sources to library targets
 # ---------------------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/src/basicio.cpp b/src/basicio.cpp
index f4223f74..bd6dba00 100644
--- a/src/basicio.cpp
+++ b/src/basicio.cpp
@@ -80,7 +80,6 @@ typedef short nlink_t;
 // *****************************************************************************
 // class member definitions
 namespace Exiv2 {
-
     BasicIo::~BasicIo()
     {
     }
diff --git a/unitTests/CMakeLists.txt b/unitTests/CMakeLists.txt
index 7e246a44..5c74100b 100644
--- a/unitTests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/unitTests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -42,7 +42,6 @@ target_compile_definitions(unit_tests
     exiv2lib_STATIC
     TESTDATA_PATH="${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/test/data"
 )
-target_compile_features(unit_tests PRIVATE cxx_std_98)
 
 if (exiv2lib_COMPILE_DEFINITIONS)
     target_compile_definitions(unit_tests PRIVATE ${exiv2lib_COMPILE_DEFINITIONS})