diff --git a/package/collectd/Config.in b/package/collectd/Config.in
index d3b686771d..a0c367c78d 100644
--- a/package/collectd/Config.in
+++ b/package/collectd/Config.in
@@ -738,12 +738,17 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_COLLECTD_RIEMANN
 	# riemann-c-client -> protobuf-c
 	depends on BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP
 	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_PROTOBUF_ARCH_SUPPORTS
+	depends on BR2_HOST_GCC_AT_LEAST_7 # protobuf-c
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_RIEMANN_C_CLIENT
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBTOOL
 	help
 	  Sends data to Riemann, a stream processing and monitoring
 	  system.
 
+comment "riemann needs a toolchain w/ C++, host gcc >= 7"
+	depends on !BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP || !BR2_HOST_GCC_AT_LEAST_7
+	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_PROTOBUF_ARCH_SUPPORTS
+
 config BR2_PACKAGE_COLLECTD_UNIXSOCK
 	bool "unixsock"
 	help
@@ -772,14 +777,15 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_COLLECTD_WRITEPROMETHEUS
 	bool "write_prometheus"
 	depends on BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP # protobuf-c
 	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_PROTOBUF_ARCH_SUPPORTS # protobuf-c
+	depends on BR2_HOST_GCC_AT_LEAST_7 # protobuf-c
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBMICROHTTPD
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_PROTOBUF_C
 	help
 	  Publishes values using an embedded HTTP server, in a format
 	  compatible with Prometheus' collectd_exporter.
 
-comment "write_prometheus needs a toolchain w/ C++"
-	depends on !BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP
+comment "write_prometheus needs a toolchain w/ C++, host gcc >= 7"
+	depends on !BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP || !BR2_HOST_GCC_AT_LEAST_7
 	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_PROTOBUF_ARCH_SUPPORTS
 
 config BR2_PACKAGE_COLLECTD_WRITEREDIS
diff --git a/package/criu/Config.in b/package/criu/Config.in
index a5adc0cedd..30b131cd30 100644
--- a/package/criu/Config.in
+++ b/package/criu/Config.in
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_CRIU_ARCH_SUPPORTS
 config BR2_PACKAGE_CRIU
 	bool "criu"
 	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_CRIU_ARCH_SUPPORTS
+	depends on BR2_HOST_GCC_AT_LEAST_7 # protobuf-c
 	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_GCC_AT_LEAST_8 # -march=armv7-a+fp
 	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HEADERS_AT_LEAST_4_18 # rseq.h
 	depends on !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_USES_UCLIBC # no aio.h
@@ -43,9 +44,10 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_CRIU
 
 	  https://criu.org/Main_Page
 
-comment "criu needs a glibc or musl toolchain w/ threads, gcc >= 8, headers >= 4.18, C++, dynamic library, wchar"
+comment "criu needs a glibc or musl toolchain w/ threads, host gcc >= 7, gcc >= 8, headers >= 4.18, C++, dynamic library, wchar"
 	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_CRIU_ARCH_SUPPORTS
 	depends on !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_GCC_AT_LEAST_8 || !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS \
 		|| !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HEADERS_AT_LEAST_4_18 \
 		|| BR2_TOOLCHAIN_USES_UCLIBC || !BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP \
-		|| BR2_STATIC_LIBS || !BR2_USE_WCHAR
+		|| BR2_STATIC_LIBS || !BR2_USE_WCHAR \
+		|| BR2_HOST_GCC_AT_LEAST_7
diff --git a/package/kismet/Config.in b/package/kismet/Config.in
index 80e68743a5..2e1e0cfbd0 100644
--- a/package/kismet/Config.in
+++ b/package/kismet/Config.in
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
-comment "kismet needs a toolchain w/ threads, C++, gcc >= 5"
+comment "kismet needs a toolchain w/ threads, C++, gcc >= 5, host gcc >= 7"
 	depends on BR2_USE_MMU
 	depends on !BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP || \
 		!BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS || \
-		!BR2_TOOLCHAIN_GCC_AT_LEAST_5
+		!BR2_TOOLCHAIN_GCC_AT_LEAST_5 || \
+		!BR2_HOST_GCC_AT_LEAST_7
 	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_PROTOBUF_ARCH_SUPPORTS
 
 config BR2_PACKAGE_KISMET
@@ -11,6 +12,7 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_KISMET
 	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS
 	depends on BR2_USE_MMU # fork()
 	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_PROTOBUF_ARCH_SUPPORTS # protobuf-c
+	depends on BR2_HOST_GCC_AT_LEAST_7 # protobuf-c
 	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_GCC_AT_LEAST_5 # C++14
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBPCAP
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_PROTOBUF_C
diff --git a/package/protobuf-c/Config.in b/package/protobuf-c/Config.in
index d96cd7b382..a438b32221 100644
--- a/package/protobuf-c/Config.in
+++ b/package/protobuf-c/Config.in
@@ -4,12 +4,13 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_PROTOBUF_C
 	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS
 	# host-protobuf only builds on certain architectures
 	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_PROTOBUF_ARCH_SUPPORTS
+	depends on BR2_HOST_GCC_AT_LEAST_7 # c++17 for host variant
 	help
 	  Code generator and runtime libraries to use Protocol Buffers
 	  from pure C (not C++).
 
 	  https://github.com/protobuf-c/protobuf-c
 
-comment "protobuf-c needs a toolchain w/ C++, threads"
-	depends on !BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP || !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS
+comment "protobuf-c needs a toolchain w/ C++, threads, host gcc >= 7"
+	depends on !BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP || !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS || !BR2_HOST_GCC_AT_LEAST_7
 	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_PROTOBUF_ARCH_SUPPORTS
diff --git a/package/protobuf-c/protobuf-c.hash b/package/protobuf-c/protobuf-c.hash
index ec00442277..aafd98416a 100644
--- a/package/protobuf-c/protobuf-c.hash
+++ b/package/protobuf-c/protobuf-c.hash
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # Locally calculated
-sha256  4cc4facd508172f3e0a4d3a8736225d472418aee35b4ad053384b137b220339f  protobuf-c-1.4.1.tar.gz
-sha256  b8999cb392cc5bbe8cd679de59584ad8d2f26033123e76f1d662fa14b9d4f287  LICENSE
+sha256  7b404c63361ed35b3667aec75cc37b54298d56dd2bcf369de3373212cc06fd98  protobuf-c-1.5.0.tar.gz
+sha256  ad28bbf89340b86d15aad1ff62c4f4590025d836415307dc66cf0338235cc2f4  LICENSE
diff --git a/package/protobuf-c/protobuf-c.mk b/package/protobuf-c/protobuf-c.mk
index 0742a33db2..ccabd4723f 100644
--- a/package/protobuf-c/protobuf-c.mk
+++ b/package/protobuf-c/protobuf-c.mk
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 #
 ################################################################################
 
-PROTOBUF_C_VERSION = 1.4.1
+PROTOBUF_C_VERSION = 1.5.0
 PROTOBUF_C_SITE = https://github.com/protobuf-c/protobuf-c/releases/download/v$(PROTOBUF_C_VERSION)
 PROTOBUF_C_DEPENDENCIES = host-protobuf-c
 HOST_PROTOBUF_C_DEPENDENCIES = host-protobuf host-pkgconf
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ PROTOBUF_C_LICENSE = BSD-2-Clause
 PROTOBUF_C_LICENSE_FILES = LICENSE
 PROTOBUF_C_CPE_ID_VENDOR = protobuf-c_project
 
-# host-protobuf needs c++11 (since 3.6.0)
-HOST_PROTOBUF_C_CONF_ENV += CXXFLAGS="$(HOST_CXXFLAGS) -std=c++11"
+# when building with protoc (from host-protobuf) c++17 is now required
+HOST_PROTOBUF_C_CONF_ENV += CXXFLAGS="$(HOST_CXXFLAGS) -std=c++17"
 
 $(eval $(autotools-package))
 $(eval $(host-autotools-package))
diff --git a/package/riemann-c-client/Config.in b/package/riemann-c-client/Config.in
index 6c3c35caf8..0985972a8b 100644
--- a/package/riemann-c-client/Config.in
+++ b/package/riemann-c-client/Config.in
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_RIEMANN_C_CLIENT
 	depends on BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP # protobuf-c
 	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS # protobuf-c
 	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_PROTOBUF_ARCH_SUPPORTS # protobuf-c
+	depends on BR2_HOST_GCC_AT_LEAST_7 # protobuf-c
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_PROTOBUF_C
 	help
 	  Riemann-c-client is a C client library for the Riemann
@@ -12,6 +13,7 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_RIEMANN_C_CLIENT
 
 	  https://github.com/algernon/riemann-c-client
 
-comment "riemann-c-client needs a toolchain w/ C++, threads"
-	depends on !BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP || !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS
+comment "riemann-c-client needs a toolchain w/ C++, threads, host gcc >= 7"
+	depends on !BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP || !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS || \
+		!BR2_HOST_GCC_AT_LEAST_7
 	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_PROTOBUF_ARCH_SUPPORTS