diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 3bd59c3..7cdc94b 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -13,7 +13,10 @@ find_package(Polymake REQUIRED ${POLYMAKE_MIN_VERSION})
 include(CheckCXXCompilerFlag)
 include(GNUInstallDirs)
 
-set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 14)
+# override c++ compat, the interface doesn't really need c++20 and
+# the c++ library in some sys-roots doesn't support full c++20
+set_target_properties(JlCxx::cxxwrap_julia PROPERTIES INTERFACE_COMPILE_FEATURES "")
+set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
 
 SET( CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER "${Polymake_CXX}")
 # this is to allow filtering of the -fopenmp flag when building natively