diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index f01518799..18ed94326 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ endif()
 
 # Activate C++11
 if(NOT "${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}" STREQUAL "MSVC")
-  ADD_DEFINITIONS(-std=c++11)
+  set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -std=c++11 ")
 endif()
 
 # Configuring other platform dependencies
@@ -265,6 +265,9 @@ target_link_libraries(OSRM ${STXXL_LIBRARY})
 target_link_libraries(osrm-extract ${STXXL_LIBRARY})
 target_link_libraries(osrm-prepare ${STXXL_LIBRARY})
 
+# check if we need to link against libgomp
+include(check_stxxl)
+
 if(MINGW)
   # STXXL needs OpenMP library
   target_link_libraries(osrm-extract gomp)
diff --git a/cmake/check_stxxl.cmake b/cmake/check_stxxl.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0b437f3a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/check_stxxl.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+INCLUDE (CheckCXXSourceCompiles)
+unset(STXXL_WORKS CACHE)
+set (STXXL_CHECK_SRC "#include <stxxl/vector>\n int main() { stxxl::vector<int> vec; return 0;}")
+set (CMAKE_TRY_COMPILE_CONFIGURATION ${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE})
+set (CMAKE_REQUIRED_INCLUDES "${STXXL_INCLUDE_DIR}")
+set (CMAKE_REQUIRED_LIBRARIES "${STXXL_LIBRARY}")
+
+CHECK_CXX_SOURCE_COMPILES("${STXXL_CHECK_SRC}" STXXL_WORKS)
+
+if(STXXL_WORKS)
+  message(STATUS "STXXL can be used without linking against libgomp")
+else()
+  unset(STXXL_WORKS)
+  message(STATUS "STXXL failed without libgomp, retrying ..")
+  set(CMAKE_REQUIRED_LIBRARIES ${CMAKE_REQUIRED_LIBRARIES} -lgomp)
+
+  CHECK_CXX_SOURCE_COMPILES("${STXXL_CHECK_SRC}" STXXL_WORKS)
+
+  if (STXXL_WORKS)
+    target_link_libraries(osrm-extract gomp)
+  else()
+    message(FATAL "STXXL failed failed, libgomp missing?")
+  endif()
+endif()