diff --git a/BuildDltViewer.pro b/BuildDltViewer.pro
index 8c25fad4..fb038814 100644
--- a/BuildDltViewer.pro
+++ b/BuildDltViewer.pro
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 TEMPLATE = subdirs
 CONFIG   += ordered
 SUBDIRS  += qdlt src plugin commander
-CONFIG += c++11
+CONFIG += c++1z
 
 ICON = Project.icns
 QMAKE_INFO_PLIST = Info.plist
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 8c917dfc..f285aa2a 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ if("${CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME}" STREQUAL "Linux")
     set(LINUX TRUE)
 endif()
 
-set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 11)
+set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
 set(CMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS ON)
 
@@ -136,7 +136,6 @@ add_subdirectory(qdlt)
 add_subdirectory(src)
 add_subdirectory(plugin)
 add_subdirectory(commander)
-add_subdirectory(tools)
 
 message(STATUS "\n\t** DLT Viewer Build Summary **")
 message(STATUS "\tCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:         ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}")
diff --git a/qdlt/CMakeLists.txt b/qdlt/CMakeLists.txt
index 288b673b..4ee1e017 100644
--- a/qdlt/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/qdlt/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -39,7 +39,9 @@ add_library(qdlt SHARED
     qdltsettingsmanager.cpp
     qdltexporter.cpp
     qdltimporter.cpp
-    fieldnames.cpp)
+    fieldnames.cpp
+    dltmessagematcher.cpp
+    dltmessagematcher.h)
 
 target_compile_definitions(qdlt PRIVATE
     BYTE_ORDER=LITTLE_ENDIAN
@@ -116,3 +118,11 @@ foreach(SDK_EXAMPLE IN ITEMS ${SDK_EXAMPLES})
         DESTINATION "${DLT_ADDITIONAL_FILES_INSTALLATION_PATH}/src"
         COMPONENT qdlt_sdk)
 endforeach()
+
+
+find_package(GTest)
+# configure unit tests only if gtest found on the system
+if (GTest_FOUND)
+    enable_testing()
+    add_subdirectory(tests)
+endif()
diff --git a/tools/dltmessagematcher.cpp b/qdlt/dltmessagematcher.cpp
similarity index 100%
rename from tools/dltmessagematcher.cpp
rename to qdlt/dltmessagematcher.cpp
diff --git a/tools/dltmessagematcher.h b/qdlt/dltmessagematcher.h
similarity index 93%
rename from tools/dltmessagematcher.h
rename to qdlt/dltmessagematcher.h
index 8eded005..88cf41b8 100644
--- a/tools/dltmessagematcher.h
+++ b/qdlt/dltmessagematcher.h
@@ -1,12 +1,17 @@
 #ifndef DLTMESSAGEMATCHER_H
 #define DLTMESSAGEMATCHER_H
 
+#include "export_rules.h"
+
 #include <QString>
 #include <QRegularExpression>
 
+#include <optional>
+#include <variant>
+
 class QDltMsg;
 
-class DltMessageMatcher
+class QDLT_EXPORT DltMessageMatcher
 {
 public:
     using Pattern = std::variant<QString, QRegularExpression>;
diff --git a/qdlt/qdlt.pro b/qdlt/qdlt.pro
index b1980c34..e51f5f40 100644
--- a/qdlt/qdlt.pro
+++ b/qdlt/qdlt.pro
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 PROJECT                 = qdlt
 TEMPLATE                = lib
 
-CONFIG += c++11
+CONFIG += c++1z
 DEFINES += QDLT_LIBRARY
 *-gcc* {
     QMAKE_CFLAGS += -std=gnu99
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ DEFINES += QDLT_LIBRARY
 }
 
 *-g++* {
-    QMAKE_CXXFLAGS += -std=gnu++0x
+    QMAKE_CXXFLAGS += -std=c++17
     QMAKE_CXXFLAGS += -Wall
     QMAKE_CXXFLAGS += -Wextra
     QMAKE_CXXFLAGS += -DPLUGIN_INSTALLATION_PATH=\\\"$$PREFIX/usr/share/dlt-viewer/plugins\\\"
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ SOURCES +=  \
     qdltexporter.cpp \
     fieldnames.cpp \
     qdltimporter.cpp \
+    dltmessagematcher.cpp \
 
 HEADERS += qdlt.h \
     export_rules.h \
@@ -96,6 +97,7 @@ HEADERS += qdlt.h \
     qdltexporter.h \
     fieldnames.h \
     qdltimporter.h \
+    dltmessagematcher.h \
 
 unix:VERSION            = 1.0.0
 
diff --git a/tools/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/qdlt/tests/CMakeLists.txt
similarity index 69%
rename from tools/tests/CMakeLists.txt
rename to qdlt/tests/CMakeLists.txt
index a90a478f..13b400a4 100644
--- a/tools/tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/qdlt/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,3 @@
-find_package(GTest REQUIRED)
-
-enable_testing()
-
 add_executable(test_tools
     test_dltmessagematcher.cpp
 )
@@ -9,6 +5,6 @@ target_link_libraries(
   test_tools
   PRIVATE
     GTest::gtest_main
-    tools
+    qdlt
 )
 
diff --git a/tools/tests/test_dltmessagematcher.cpp b/qdlt/tests/test_dltmessagematcher.cpp
similarity index 100%
rename from tools/tests/test_dltmessagematcher.cpp
rename to qdlt/tests/test_dltmessagematcher.cpp
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 5148056f..6877e1cc 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -53,7 +53,6 @@ add_executable(dlt-viewer
 
 target_link_libraries(dlt-viewer
     qdlt
-    tools
     ${QT_PREFIX}::Core
     ${QT_PREFIX}::Network
     ${QT_PREFIX}::Widgets
diff --git a/src/src.pro b/src/src.pro
index ea113ce1..e79c94df 100644
--- a/src/src.pro
+++ b/src/src.pro
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ QT_VERSION = $$split(QT_VERSION, ".")
 QT_VER_MAJ = $$member(QT_VERSION, 0)
 QT_VER_MIN = $$member(QT_VERSION, 1)
 
+CONFIG += c++1z
 *-gcc* {
     QMAKE_CFLAGS += -std=gnu99
     QMAKE_CFLAGS += -Wall
@@ -12,7 +13,7 @@ QT_VER_MIN = $$member(QT_VERSION, 1)
 }
 
 *-g++* {
-    QMAKE_CXXFLAGS += -std=gnu++0x
+    QMAKE_CXXFLAGS += -std=c++17
     QMAKE_CXXFLAGS += -Wall
     QMAKE_CXXFLAGS += -Wextra
     #QMAKE_CXXFLAGS += -pedantic
diff --git a/tools/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/CMakeLists.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 7bd955b7..00000000
--- a/tools/CMakeLists.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-add_library(tools
-    dltmessagematcher.cpp
-    dltmessagematcher.h
-)
-
-target_link_libraries(tools PUBLIC qdlt)
-target_include_directories(tools PUBLIC .)
-
-add_subdirectory(tests)