diff --git a/CMakeExt/CompilerFlags.cmake b/CMakeExt/CompilerFlags.cmake
index 637e873d3..2ef087b00 100644
--- a/CMakeExt/CompilerFlags.cmake
+++ b/CMakeExt/CompilerFlags.cmake
@@ -137,6 +137,13 @@ if (ENABLE_DEV_COMPILER_WARNINGS
     endif()
 endif()
 
+if (NOT (ENABLE_DEV_COMPILER_WARNINGS
+       OR ENABLE_EXT_COMPILER_WARNINGS)
+    AND NOT "${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}" MATCHES "Cray")
+  set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS
+      "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -Wno-format")
+endif()
+
 set (CXX_GDB_FLAG "-g"
     CACHE STRING "C++ compiler (clang++) debug symbols flag")
 if(OPENMP_FOUND)
diff --git a/CMakeExt/GoogleTest.cmake b/CMakeExt/GoogleTest.cmake
index 5702a9d12..3d86cb0ef 100644
--- a/CMakeExt/GoogleTest.cmake
+++ b/CMakeExt/GoogleTest.cmake
@@ -48,7 +48,6 @@ if (BUILD_TESTS)
 
   else()
     # Download gtest from official github repository:
-    message(STATUS "GoogleTest: using GTest from official repository")
     set(GTEST_SUBMOD "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/vendor/googletest")
     set(GTEST_PREFIX "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/gtest")
     set(GTEST_LOCATION "${GTEST_PREFIX}/src/GTestExternal-build/googlemock/gtest")
@@ -57,13 +56,14 @@ if (BUILD_TESTS)
     set(GTEST_MAINLIB  "${GTEST_LOCATION}/${LIBPREFIX}gtest_main${LIBSUFFIX}")
 
     # check whether the submodule has been initialized
-    file(GLOB gtest_files "${GTEST_SUBMOD}/*")
-    list(LENGTH gtest_files gtest_file_cnt)
+    file(GLOB gtest_files     "${GTEST_SUBMOD}/*")
+    list(LENGTH gtest_files     gtest_file_cnt)
     set (git_res 0)
     if (gtest_file_cnt EQUAL 0)
       # we first need to initialize the submodule
-      message(STATUS "GoogleTest: Fetching submodule into vendor/googletest")
-      execute_process(COMMAND git submodule update --init vendor/googletest
+      message(STATUS "GoogleTest: using GTest from official repository")
+      message(STATUS "GoogleTest: Fetching submodule into ${GTEST_SUBMOD}")
+      execute_process(COMMAND git submodule update --init ${GTEST_SUBMOD}
                       TIMEOUT 10
                       RESULT_VARIABLE git_res
                       OUTPUT_VARIABLE git_out
@@ -71,7 +71,9 @@ if (BUILD_TESTS)
                       WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
     endif()
 
-    if (git_res EQUAL 0)
+    file(GLOB gtest_git_files "${GTEST_SUBMOD}/.git*")
+    list(LENGTH gtest_git_files gtest_git_file_cnt)
+    if (NOT gtest_git_file_cnt EQUAL 0 AND git_res EQUAL 0)
       # checkout desired version
       message(STATUS "GoogleTest: Checking out commit ${GTEST_GIT_TAG}")
       execute_process(COMMAND git checkout -q ${GTEST_GIT_TAG}
@@ -82,7 +84,7 @@ if (BUILD_TESTS)
       if (NOT git_res EQUAL 0)
         # try to fetch latest commit from origin
         message(STATUS "GoogleTest: Checkout failed, trying to fetch latest commit")
-        execute_process(COMMAND git submodule update --remote vendor/googletest
+        execute_process(COMMAND git submodule update --remote ${GTEST_SUBMOD}
                         TIMEOUT 10
                         RESULT_VARIABLE git_res
                         OUTPUT_VARIABLE git_out
@@ -100,6 +102,8 @@ if (BUILD_TESTS)
           message(WARNING "GoogleTest: Failed to checkout commit ${GTEST_GIT_TAG}: ${git_err}")
         endif()
       endif()
+    elseif (NOT gtest_file_cnt EQUAL 0)
+      message(STATUS "GoogleTest: using GTest available in ${GTEST_SUBMOD}")
     endif()
 
 
diff --git a/release.pl b/release.pl
index 85c7898a6..7c764200d 100755
--- a/release.pl
+++ b/release.pl
@@ -126,12 +126,16 @@
 	  # DASH scripts
 	  #
 	  "dash/scripts/*.sh",
-          "dash/scripts/dashcc/*.in",
-          #
+	  "dash/scripts/dashcc/*.in",
+	  #
 	  # Documentation
 	  #
 	  "doc/config/*.dox",
-	  "doc/config/*.in"
+	  "doc/config/*.in",
+	  #
+	  # GoogleTest
+	  #
+	  "vendor/googletest/*"
         );
 
 
@@ -149,7 +153,7 @@
 	if( $file =~ /\.(c|h|cc|cpp)$/ && -e "LICENSE" ) {
 	    system("cat ./LICENSE $file > $base/$file");
 	} else {
-	    system("cp $file $dirname");
+	    system("cp -r $file $dirname");
 	}
     }
 }