diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 5a38c4ecb422e5ea823f864deaf0df7acceb5ac9..a04d2acbb9eeca7ef29f2e45091be5bc652a5a70 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ set (CMAKE_INSTALL_MESSAGE LAZY)
 set(CMAKE_MODULE_PATH ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/CMakeModules)
 include (CorsikaUtilities) # a few cmake function
 
+# enable warnings and disallow non-standard language
+set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -Wall -pedantic -Wextra")
+
 # --std=c++17
 set (CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
 enable_testing ()