diff --git a/libdap-cuttdb/CMakeLists.txt b/libdap-cuttdb/CMakeLists.txt
index 4f309c1aba24d0fcb18a0f2658084ee0312894f6..f9d44ce68bbead75f8f7298c26aae71639aed92b 100644
--- a/libdap-cuttdb/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/libdap-cuttdb/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@ endif()
 
 add_library(${PROJECT_NAME} STATIC ${cuttdb_h} ${cuttdb_src})
 
+set_target_properties(dap_cuttdb PROPERTIES LINKER_LANGUAGE C)
+
 target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME} -lpthread)
 
 target_include_directories(${PROJECT_NAME} INTERFACE src)
-
diff --git a/libdap-cuttdb/src/cdb_bgtask.c b/libdap-cuttdb/src/cdb_bgtask.c
index 822c02c1299c1f03fd5b738f50183e474dffce0a..da998c2b0a0f164350186c74e1bed80f95f5d633 100644
--- a/libdap-cuttdb/src/cdb_bgtask.c
+++ b/libdap-cuttdb/src/cdb_bgtask.c
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ static void *_cdb_bgtask_func(void *arg)
     CDBBGTASK *bt = (CDBBGTASK *)arg;
 #ifndef _WIN32
     /* block all signals coming into current thread */
-    _sigset_t smask;
+    sigset_t smask;
     sigfillset(&smask);
     pthread_sigmask(SIG_BLOCK, &smask, NULL);
 #endif