diff --git a/dev-lang/openjdk/openjdk-1.8.u40_b27.recipe b/dev-lang/openjdk/openjdk-1.8.u40_b27.recipe
index 1eafe6b5c..2e39d24ff 100644
--- a/dev-lang/openjdk/openjdk-1.8.u40_b27.recipe
+++ b/dev-lang/openjdk/openjdk-1.8.u40_b27.recipe
@@ -173,13 +173,16 @@ BUILD()
 	cd src
 	ln -s src $sourceDir
 
-	# OpenJDK code is not completely valid C++11
-	export CPPFLAGS="-fpermissive -Wno-error=literal-suffix"
+	# set the C++ standard as the default changed since gcc6
+	EXTRA_CXX_FLAGS="-std=gnu++98 -fno-delete-null-pointer-checks -fno-lifetime-dse"
+	EXTRA_CFLAGS="-Wno-error -fno-delete-null-pointer-checks -fno-lifetime-dse"
 	
 	bash ./common/autoconf/autogen.sh
 	bash ./configure --with-boot-jdk-jvmargs="-Xmx${maxHeapSize}" \
 	                 --with-freetype-include="${freeTypeHeaders}" \
-	                 --with-freetype-lib="${freeTypeLib}"
+	                 --with-freetype-lib="${freeTypeLib}" \
+			 --with-extra-cxxflags="$EXTRA_CXX_FLAGS" \
+			 --with-extra-cflags="$EXTRA_CFLAGS"
 
 	make images
 }