diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 4e7efdafe..96653bacf 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ if(NOT CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE)
     FORCE)
 endif()
 
-project(pagmo VERSION 2.16.0 LANGUAGES CXX C)
+project(pagmo VERSION 2.16.1 LANGUAGES CXX C)
 
 # Setup module path.
 list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake_modules" "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake_modules/yacma")
@@ -314,8 +314,11 @@ target_compile_options(pagmo PRIVATE
     "$<$<CONFIG:MinSizeRel>:${PAGMO_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE}>"
 )
 
-# Set the minimum C++ standard to C++17
+# Set the minimum C++ standard to C++17, both when building
+# and consuming pagmo.
 target_compile_features(pagmo PUBLIC cxx_std_17)
+# Enforce vanilla C++17 when compiling pagmo.
+set_property(TARGET pagmo PROPERTY CXX_EXTENSIONS NO)
 # NOTE: make sure the include directories from the current build
 # are included first, so that if there is already a pagmo installation
 # in the prefix path we don't risk including the headers from that
@@ -345,6 +348,8 @@ target_link_libraries(pagmo PUBLIC Threads::Threads)
 
 # Boost.
 target_link_libraries(pagmo PUBLIC Boost::boost Boost::serialization)
+# NOTE: quench warnings from Boost when building the library.
+target_compile_definitions(pagmo PRIVATE BOOST_ALLOW_DEPRECATED_HEADERS)
 
 # TBB.
 # NOTE: TBB is a private dependency because
diff --git a/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt b/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt
index 248c2df30..b713b0ee5 100644
--- a/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ function(ADD_PAGMO_BENCHMARK arg1)
         "$<$<CONFIG:MinSizeRel>:${PAGMO_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE}>"
     )
     # Set the minimum C++ standard to C++17
-    target_compile_features(${arg1} PUBLIC cxx_std_17)
+    target_compile_features(${arg1} PRIVATE cxx_std_17)
+    set_property(TARGET ${arg1} PROPERTY CXX_EXTENSIONS NO)
 endfunction()
 
 ADD_PAGMO_BENCHMARK(thread_island_pool)
diff --git a/doc/sphinx/changelog.rst b/doc/sphinx/changelog.rst
index c3e691485..f2f0bcd5c 100644
--- a/doc/sphinx/changelog.rst
+++ b/doc/sphinx/changelog.rst
@@ -3,6 +3,23 @@
 Changelog
 =========
 
+2.16.1 (unreleased)
+-------------------
+
+Changes
+~~~~~~~
+
+- pagmo now requires CMake >= 3.8
+  (`#458 <https://github.com/esa/pagmo2/pull/458>`__).
+
+Fix
+~~~
+
+- Various build system fixes/improvements
+  (`#459 <https://github.com/esa/pagmo2/pull/459>`__,
+  `#458 <https://github.com/esa/pagmo2/pull/458>`__,
+  `#457 <https://github.com/esa/pagmo2/pull/457>`__).
+
 2.16.0 (2020-09-25)
 -------------------
 
diff --git a/doc/sphinx/quickstart.rst b/doc/sphinx/quickstart.rst
index a514d2e8e..75f16237c 100644
--- a/doc/sphinx/quickstart.rst
+++ b/doc/sphinx/quickstart.rst
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ Using pagmo with CMake
 As a part of the pagmo installation, a group of CMake files is installed into
 ``CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX/lib/cmake/pagmo``.
 This bundle, which is known in the CMake lingo as a
-`config-file package <https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.3/manual/cmake-packages.7.html>`__,
+`config-file package <https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/manual/cmake-packages.7.html>`__,
 facilitates the detection and use of pagmo from other CMake-based projects.
 pagmo's config-file package, once loaded, provides
 an imported target called ``Pagmo::pagmo`` which encapsulates all the information
@@ -53,9 +53,6 @@ program presented earlier may look like this:
 
 .. code-block:: cmake
 
-   # pagmo needs at least CMake 3.3.
-   cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.3)
-
    # The name of our project.
    project(sample_project)
 
diff --git a/src/algorithms/nlopt.cpp b/src/algorithms/nlopt.cpp
index 8e1785d6f..db6ba1550 100644
--- a/src/algorithms/nlopt.cpp
+++ b/src/algorithms/nlopt.cpp
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ extern "C" {
 // Wrappers to connect our objfun/constraints calculation machinery to NLopt's. Declared here,
 // defined later in order to avoid circular deps.
 // NOTE: these functions need to be passed to the NLopt C API, and as such they need to be
-// declated within an 'extern "C"' block (otherwise, it might be UB to pass C++ function pointers
+// declared within an 'extern "C"' block (otherwise, it might be UB to pass C++ function pointers
 // to a C API).
 // https://www.reddit.com/r/cpp/comments/4fqfy7/using_c11_capturing_lambdas_w_vanilla_c_api/d2b9bh0/
 double nlopt_objfun_wrapper(unsigned, const double *, double *, void *);
diff --git a/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
index 8badec05f..483294e94 100644
--- a/tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ function(ADD_PAGMO_TESTCASE arg1)
         "$<$<CONFIG:MinSizeRel>:${PAGMO_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE}>"
     )
     # Set the minimum C++ standard to C++17
-    target_compile_features(${arg1} PUBLIC cxx_std_17)
+    target_compile_features(${arg1} PRIVATE cxx_std_17)
+    set_property(TARGET ${arg1} PROPERTY CXX_EXTENSIONS NO)
     add_test(${arg1} ${arg1})
 endfunction()
 
diff --git a/tutorials/CMakeLists.txt b/tutorials/CMakeLists.txt
index 6bd9f2700..932c4095a 100644
--- a/tutorials/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tutorials/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ function(ADD_PAGMO_TUTORIAL arg1)
         "$<$<CONFIG:MinSizeRel>:${PAGMO_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE}>"
     )
     # Set the minimum C++ standard to C++17
-    target_compile_features(${arg1} PUBLIC cxx_std_17)
+    target_compile_features(${arg1} PRIVATE cxx_std_17)
+    set_property(TARGET ${arg1} PROPERTY CXX_EXTENSIONS NO)
     add_test(${arg1} ${arg1})
 endfunction()