diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 71ec300b..23c55335 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -77,6 +77,8 @@ if(WITH_ALL_BENCHMARKS)
   set(WITH_BENCHMARKS ON)
 endif()
 
+set(DWARFS_CXX_STANDARD 20)
+
 # Libraries that we can fetch on demand if necessary
 #
 # All of these libraries are header-only and not strictly required once
@@ -472,8 +474,8 @@ if(WITH_TESTS OR WITH_BENCHMARKS OR WITH_FUZZ)
   if(WITH_BENCHMARKS)
     target_sources(dwarfs_test_helpers PRIVATE test/test_strings.cpp)
   endif()
-  target_link_libraries(dwarfs_test_helpers PUBLIC dwarfs_common dwarfs_writer dwarfs_tool)
-  set_property(TARGET dwarfs_test_helpers PROPERTY CXX_STANDARD 20)
+  target_link_libraries(dwarfs_test_helpers PUBLIC dwarfs_reader dwarfs_writer dwarfs_tool)
+  set_property(TARGET dwarfs_test_helpers PROPERTY CXX_STANDARD ${DWARFS_CXX_STANDARD})
 endif()
 
 if(WITH_TESTS)
@@ -818,7 +820,7 @@ foreach(tgt ${LIBDWARFS_TARGETS} ${LIBDWARFS_OBJECT_TARGETS} dwarfs_test_helpers
     )
   endif()
 
-  set_property(TARGET ${tgt} PROPERTY CXX_STANDARD 20)
+  set_property(TARGET ${tgt} PROPERTY CXX_STANDARD ${DWARFS_CXX_STANDARD})
   set_property(TARGET ${tgt} PROPERTY CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
   set_property(TARGET ${tgt} PROPERTY CXX_EXTENSIONS OFF)
 
diff --git a/cmake/compile.cmake b/cmake/compile.cmake
index 6f99cc74..37bbd4e5 100644
--- a/cmake/compile.cmake
+++ b/cmake/compile.cmake
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ endif()
 
 set(default_build_type "Release")
 
-set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 20)
+set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD ${DWARFS_CXX_STANDARD})
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
 
 if(NOT CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE AND NOT CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES)
diff --git a/cmake/folly.cmake b/cmake/folly.cmake
index 8d690450..cd532327 100644
--- a/cmake/folly.cmake
+++ b/cmake/folly.cmake
@@ -38,13 +38,13 @@ add_compile_definitions(GLOG_NO_ABBREVIATED_SEVERITIES NOMINMAX NOGDI)
 add_compile_definitions(GLOG_USE_GLOG_EXPORT)
 
 set(
-  CXX_STD "gnu++20"
+  CXX_STD "gnu++${DWARFS_CXX_STANDARD}"
   CACHE STRING
   "The C++ standard argument to pass to the compiler."
 )
 
 set(
-  MSVC_LANGUAGE_VERSION "c++20"
+  MSVC_LANGUAGE_VERSION "c++${DWARFS_CXX_STANDARD}"
   CACHE STRING
   "The C++ standard argument to pass to the compiler."
 )
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ if(WIN32)
   )
 endif()
 
-set_property(TARGET dwarfs_folly_lite PROPERTY CXX_STANDARD 20)
+set_property(TARGET dwarfs_folly_lite PROPERTY CXX_STANDARD ${DWARFS_CXX_STANDARD})
 target_include_directories(
   dwarfs_folly_lite SYSTEM PUBLIC
   $<BUILD_INTERFACE:${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/folly>
diff --git a/cmake/libdwarfs.cmake b/cmake/libdwarfs.cmake
index 9e6317b0..1efa2aa6 100644
--- a/cmake/libdwarfs.cmake
+++ b/cmake/libdwarfs.cmake
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ endif()
 target_link_libraries(dwarfs_extractor PRIVATE PkgConfig::LIBARCHIVE)
 
 target_include_directories(dwarfs_common SYSTEM PRIVATE $<BUILD_INTERFACE:${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/fsst>)
-set_property(TARGET dwarfs_fsst PROPERTY CXX_STANDARD 20)
+set_property(TARGET dwarfs_fsst PROPERTY CXX_STANDARD ${DWARFS_CXX_STANDARD})
 set_property(TARGET dwarfs_fsst PROPERTY CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
 set_property(TARGET dwarfs_fsst PROPERTY CXX_EXTENSIONS OFF)
 
diff --git a/cmake/need_gtest.cmake b/cmake/need_gtest.cmake
index ffa22256..6c946904 100644
--- a/cmake/need_gtest.cmake
+++ b/cmake/need_gtest.cmake
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ if(PREFER_SYSTEM_GTEST)
   try_compile(
     GTEST_SUPPORTS_U8STRING
     SOURCES ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/checks/gtest-u8string.cpp
-    CXX_STANDARD 20
+    CXX_STANDARD ${DWARFS_CXX_STANDARD}
   )
 
   if(NOT GTEST_SUPPORTS_U8STRING)
diff --git a/cmake/need_phmap.cmake b/cmake/need_phmap.cmake
index 85259e70..bbb32bbb 100644
--- a/cmake/need_phmap.cmake
+++ b/cmake/need_phmap.cmake
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ try_run(
   PHMAP_COMPILE_RESULT
   SOURCES ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/checks/phmap-version.cpp
   CMAKE_FLAGS -DINCLUDE_DIRECTORIES=${TRY_RUN_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES}
-  CXX_STANDARD 20
+  CXX_STANDARD ${DWARFS_CXX_STANDARD}
   RUN_OUTPUT_VARIABLE PHMAP_VERSION
   COMPILE_OUTPUT_VARIABLE PHMAP_COMPILE_OUTPUT
 )
diff --git a/cmake/thrift.cmake b/cmake/thrift.cmake
index fd7936e2..07db8eff 100644
--- a/cmake/thrift.cmake
+++ b/cmake/thrift.cmake
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ add_library(
   ${THRIFT_GENERATED_DIR}/thrift/lib/thrift/gen-cpp2/frozen_types_compact.cpp
 )
 
-set_property(TARGET dwarfs_thrift_lite PROPERTY CXX_STANDARD 20)
+set_property(TARGET dwarfs_thrift_lite PROPERTY CXX_STANDARD ${DWARFS_CXX_STANDARD})
 target_link_libraries(dwarfs_thrift_lite PUBLIC dwarfs_folly_lite)
 
 target_include_directories(dwarfs_thrift_lite SYSTEM PUBLIC
diff --git a/cmake/thrift_library.cmake b/cmake/thrift_library.cmake
index 3d40247f..0c6ed8b6 100644
--- a/cmake/thrift_library.cmake
+++ b/cmake/thrift_library.cmake
@@ -141,6 +141,6 @@ function(add_cpp2_thrift_library idlfile)
     if(NOT WIN32)
       target_compile_options(${_THRIFT_TARGET} PRIVATE -Wno-deprecated-declarations)
     endif()
-    set_property(TARGET ${_THRIFT_TARGET} PROPERTY CXX_STANDARD 20)
+    set_property(TARGET ${_THRIFT_TARGET} PROPERTY CXX_STANDARD ${DWARFS_CXX_STANDARD})
   endif()
 endfunction()