diff --git a/cmake/Modules/ConfigureGoogleTest.cmake b/cmake/Modules/ConfigureGoogleTest.cmake
index 0d897cadb9a..c6e2605ecc3 100644
--- a/cmake/Modules/ConfigureGoogleTest.cmake
+++ b/cmake/Modules/ConfigureGoogleTest.cmake
@@ -16,18 +16,18 @@
 #=============================================================================
 # Download and unpack googletest at configure time
 
-#set(GTEST_CMAKE_ARGS " -Dgtest_build_samples=ON"	
-#	                     " -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE=ON")
+set(GTEST_CMAKE_ARGS " -Dgtest_build_samples=ON"	
+	                     " -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE=ON")
 	
-#if(NOT CMAKE_CXX11_ABI)
-#    message(STATUS "GTEST: Disabling the GLIBCXX11 ABI")
-#    list(APPEND GTEST_CMAKE_ARGS " -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS=-D_GLIBCXX_USE_CXX11_ABI=0")
-#    list(APPEND GTEST_CMAKE_ARGS " -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS=-D_GLIBCXX_USE_CXX11_ABI=0")
-#elseif(CMAKE_CXX11_ABI)
-#    message(STATUS "GTEST: Enabling the GLIBCXX11 ABI")
-#    list(APPEND GTEST_CMAKE_ARGS " -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS=-D_GLIBCXX_USE_CXX11_ABI=1")
-#    list(APPEND GTEST_CMAKE_ARGS " -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS=-D_GLIBCXX_USE_CXX11_ABI=1")
-#endif(NOT CMAKE_CXX11_ABI)
+if(NOT CMAKE_CXX11_ABI)
+    message(STATUS "GTEST: Disabling the GLIBCXX11 ABI")
+    list(APPEND GTEST_CMAKE_ARGS " -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS=-D_GLIBCXX_USE_CXX11_ABI=0")
+    list(APPEND GTEST_CMAKE_ARGS " -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS=-D_GLIBCXX_USE_CXX11_ABI=0")
+elseif(CMAKE_CXX11_ABI)
+    message(STATUS "GTEST: Enabling the GLIBCXX11 ABI")
+    list(APPEND GTEST_CMAKE_ARGS " -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS=-D_GLIBCXX_USE_CXX11_ABI=1")
+    list(APPEND GTEST_CMAKE_ARGS " -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS=-D_GLIBCXX_USE_CXX11_ABI=1")
+endif(NOT CMAKE_CXX11_ABI)
 
 configure_file(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/Templates/GoogleTest.CMakeLists.txt.cmake ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}${CMAKE_FILES_DIRECTORY}/thirdparty/googletest-download/CMakeLists.txt)
 
diff --git a/cmake/Templates/GoogleTest.CMakeLists.txt.cmake b/cmake/Templates/GoogleTest.CMakeLists.txt.cmake
index 31b6697b7f8..6b9623b14e8 100644
--- a/cmake/Templates/GoogleTest.CMakeLists.txt.cmake
+++ b/cmake/Templates/GoogleTest.CMakeLists.txt.cmake
@@ -28,5 +28,5 @@ ExternalProject_Add(googletest
     SOURCE_DIR        "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}${CMAKE_FILES_DIRECTORY}/thirdparty/googletest-src"
     BINARY_DIR        "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}${CMAKE_FILES_DIRECTORY}/thirdparty/googletest-build"
     INSTALL_DIR       "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}${CMAKE_FILES_DIRECTORY}/thirdparty/googletest-install"
-    CMAKE_ARGS        -Dgtest_build_samples=ON -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH=${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}${CMAKE_FILES_DIRECTORY}/thirdparty/googletest-install
+    CMAKE_ARGS        ${GTEST_CMAKE_ARGS} -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH=${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}${CMAKE_FILES_DIRECTORY}/thirdparty/googletest-install
 )
diff --git a/src/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/src/tests/CMakeLists.txt
index 778ba8c3b73..867359388f2 100644
--- a/src/tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -9,6 +9,16 @@ project(CUGRAPH_TESTS LANGUAGES C CXX CUDA)
 
 set(CMAKE_CUDA_FLAGS "-shared -cudart shared")
 
+if(CMAKE_CXX11_ABI)
+    message(STATUS "cuGraph test: Enabling the GLIBCXX11 ABI")
+else()
+    message(STATUS "cuGraph test: Disabling the GLIBCXX11 ABI")
+    set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -D_GLIBCXX_USE_CXX11_ABI=0")
+    set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -D_GLIBCXX_USE_CXX11_ABI=0")
+    set(CMAKE_CUDA_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CUDA_FLAGS} -Xcompiler -D_GLIBCXX_USE_CXX11_ABI=0")
+endif(CMAKE_CXX11_ABI)
+
+
 ###################################################################################################
 # - add nvgraph -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #if(NOT TARGET NVGRAPH AND NVG_PLUGIN)
diff --git a/src/tests/grmat/grmat_test.cu b/src/tests/grmat/grmat_test.cu
index 8f03a4f0653..db72cd3813b 100644
--- a/src/tests/grmat/grmat_test.cu
+++ b/src/tests/grmat/grmat_test.cu
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ class Tests_Grmat : public ::testing::TestWithParam<Grmat_Usecase> {
      int rmat_scale = 0, edge_factor = 0, undirected = false;
      char* argv[32] = {0};
      int argc = 0;
-     std::string tmp_argv = param.argv;
+     std::string tmp_argv(param.argv.c_str());
      get_array_of_strings (argv, (char *)tmp_argv.c_str(), argc);
      rmat_scale = atoi(strrchr(argv[1], '=')+1);
      edge_factor = atoi(strrchr(argv[2], '=')+1);
@@ -171,7 +171,8 @@ class Tests_Grmat : public ::testing::TestWithParam<Grmat_Usecase> {
     int rmat_scale = 0, edge_factor = 0, undirected = false;;
     char* argv[32] = {0};
     int argc = 0;
-    std::string tmp_argv = param.argv;
+    std::string tmp_argv(param.argv.c_str());
+
     get_array_of_strings (argv, (char *)tmp_argv.c_str(), argc);
     
     rmat_scale = atoi(strrchr(argv[1], '=')+1);