diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 76e1aca47..d3d3b8101 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ option(WITH_TESTS "Enable building of unit tests" ON)
 option(WITH_GUI_TESTS "Enable building of GUI tests" OFF)
 option(WITH_LTO "Enable Link Time Optimization (LTO)" OFF)
 option(WITH_PIE "Build as Position-independent executable (PIE)" OFF)
+option(WITH_CXX11 "Build with the C++ 11 standard" OFF)
 
 set(KEEPASSX_VERSION "2.0 alpha 1")
 set(KEEPASSX_VERSION_NUM "1.9.80")
@@ -113,6 +114,10 @@ if(WITH_PIE)
   endif()
 endif()
 
+if (WITH_CXX11)
+  add_gcc_compiler_cxxflags("-std=c++0x")
+endif()
+
 if(APPLE OR MINGW)
   set(PROGNAME KeePassX)
 else()
diff --git a/src/core/Global.h b/src/core/Global.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..75701ec2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/core/Global.h
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+/*
+ *  Copyright (C) 2012 Felix Geyer <debfx@fobos.de>
+ *  Copyright (C) 2012 Nokia Corporation and/or its subsidiary(-ies)
+ *  Copyright (C) 2012 Intel Corporation
+ *
+ *  This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ *  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ *  the Free Software Foundation, either version 2 or (at your option)
+ *  version 3 of the License.
+ *
+ *  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ *  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ *  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ *  GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ *  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ *  along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+#ifndef KEEPASSX_GLOBAL_H
+#define KEEPASSX_GLOBAL_H
+
+// mostly copied from qcompilerdetection.h which is part of Qt 5
+
+#include <QtCore/QtGlobal>
+
+#ifdef Q_CC_CLANG
+#  if __cplusplus >= 201103L || __GXX_EXPERIMENTAL_CXX0X__
+#    if ((__clang_major__ * 100) + __clang_minor__) >= 209 /* since clang 2.9 */
+#      define COMPILER_DECLTYPE
+#    endif
+#    if ((__clang_major__ * 100) + __clang_minor__) >= 300 /* since clang 3.0 */
+#      define COMPILER_CLASS_ENUM
+#      define COMPILER_EXPLICIT_OVERRIDES
+#      define COMPILER_NULLPTR
+#    endif
+#  endif
+#endif // Q_CC_CLANG
+
+#if defined(Q_CC_GNU) && !defined(Q_CC_INTEL) && !defined(Q_CC_CLANG)
+#  if defined(__GXX_EXPERIMENTAL_CXX0X__) || __cplusplus >= 201103L
+#    if (__GNUC__ * 100 + __GNUC_MINOR__) >= 403
+       /* C++11 features supported in GCC 4.3: */
+#      define COMPILER_DECLTYPE
+#    endif
+#    if (__GNUC__ * 100 + __GNUC_MINOR__) >= 404
+#      define COMPILER_CLASS_ENUM
+#    endif
+#    if (__GNUC__ * 100 + __GNUC_MINOR__) >= 406
+#      define COMPILER_CONSTEXPR
+#      define COMPILER_NULLPTR
+#    endif
+#  endif
+#endif
+
+/*
+ * C++11 keywords and expressions
+ */
+#if !defined(Q_NULLPTR)
+#  ifdef COMPILER_NULLPTR
+#    define Q_NULLPTR nullptr
+#  else
+#    define Q_NULLPTR 0
+#  endif
+#endif
+
+#if !defined(Q_DECL_CONSTEXPR)
+#  ifdef COMPILER_CONSTEXPR
+#    define Q_DECL_CONSTEXPR constexpr
+#  else
+#    define Q_DECL_CONSTEXPR
+#  endif
+#endif
+
+#if !defined(Q_DECL_OVERRIDE) && !defined(Q_DECL_FINAL) && !defined(Q_DECL_FINAL_CLASS)
+#  ifdef COMPILER_EXPLICIT_OVERRIDES
+#    define Q_DECL_OVERRIDE override
+#    define Q_DECL_FINAL final
+#    ifdef  COMPILER_DECLTYPE
+#      define Q_DECL_FINAL_CLASS final
+#    else
+#      define Q_DECL_FINAL_CLASS
+#    endif
+#  else
+#    define Q_DECL_OVERRIDE
+#    define Q_DECL_FINAL
+#    define Q_DECL_FINAL_CLASS
+#  endif
+#endif
+
+#endif // KEEPASSX_GLOBAL_H