diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f6471e769..25b90b403 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -208,12 +208,7 @@ There are some things to be aware of:
   of GoogleTest. GoogleTest itself recommends that it is being
   downloaded as part of the build. However, you can use the system
   installed version by passing `-DPREFER_SYSTEM_GTEST=ON` to the
-  `cmake` call. Use at your own risk. One known issues with using
-  system-installed versions of GoogleTest is that `utils_test` can
-  fail to compile because it uses C++20 features and GoogleTest is
-  built without `-std=c++20`. The release page has a patch
-  (`dwarfs-system-gtest.patch`) that can be applied to work around
-  this issue.
+  `cmake` call. Use at your own risk.
 
 - For other bundled libraries (namely `fmt`, `parallel-hashmap`,
   `range-v3`), the system installed version is used as long as it
diff --git a/cmake/checks/gtest-u8string.cpp b/cmake/checks/gtest-u8string.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..12efe5d11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/checks/gtest-u8string.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#include <gtest/gtest.h>
+
+#include <string>
+
+TEST(u8string, compare) {
+  EXPECT_EQ(u8"我", u8"我");
+}
diff --git a/cmake/need_gtest.cmake b/cmake/need_gtest.cmake
index fbe74db2b..769458243 100644
--- a/cmake/need_gtest.cmake
+++ b/cmake/need_gtest.cmake
@@ -24,9 +24,18 @@ if(PREFER_SYSTEM_GTEST)
   add_library(gtest_main ALIAS GTest::gtest_main)
   add_library(gmock ALIAS GTest::gmock)
   add_library(gmock_main ALIAS GTest::gmock_main)
-endif()
 
-if(NOT GTest_FOUND)
+  try_compile(
+    GTEST_SUPPORTS_U8STRING
+    SOURCES ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/checks/gtest-u8string.cpp
+    CXX_STANDARD 20
+  )
+
+  if(NOT GTEST_SUPPORTS_U8STRING)
+    message(WARNING "GTest does not support u8string.")
+    target_compile_definitions(GTest::gtest INTERFACE GTEST_NO_U8STRING=1)
+  endif()
+else()
   FetchContent_Declare(
     googletest
     GIT_REPOSITORY ${GOOGLETEST_GIT_REPO}
diff --git a/test/utils_test.cpp b/test/utils_test.cpp
index 9148b73e3..7584205d3 100644
--- a/test/utils_test.cpp
+++ b/test/utils_test.cpp
@@ -34,18 +34,25 @@
 
 using namespace dwarfs;
 
+#ifdef GTEST_NO_U8STRING
+#define EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(a, b) EXPECT_TRUE((a) == (b))
+#else
+#define EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(a, b) EXPECT_EQ(a, b)
+#endif
+
 TEST(utils, utf8_display_width) {
-  EXPECT_EQ(0, utf8_display_width(""));
-  EXPECT_EQ(1, utf8_display_width(u8string_to_string(u8"a")));
-  EXPECT_EQ(5, utf8_display_width(u8string_to_string(u8"abcde")));
-  EXPECT_EQ(2, utf8_display_width(u8string_to_string(u8"你")));
-  EXPECT_EQ(4, utf8_display_width(u8string_to_string(u8"我你")));
-  EXPECT_EQ(6, utf8_display_width(u8string_to_string(u8"我爱你")));
-  EXPECT_EQ(5, utf8_display_width(u8string_to_string(u8"☀️ Sun")));
-  EXPECT_EQ(2, utf8_display_width(u8string_to_string(u8"⚽️")));
-  EXPECT_EQ(5, utf8_display_width(u8string_to_string(u8"مرحبًا")));
-  EXPECT_EQ(50, utf8_display_width(u8string_to_string(
-                    u8"unicode/我爱你/☀️ Sun/Γειά σας/مرحبًا/⚽️/Карибського")));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(0, utf8_display_width(""));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(1, utf8_display_width(u8string_to_string(u8"a")));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(5, utf8_display_width(u8string_to_string(u8"abcde")));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(2, utf8_display_width(u8string_to_string(u8"你")));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(4, utf8_display_width(u8string_to_string(u8"我你")));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(6, utf8_display_width(u8string_to_string(u8"我爱你")));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(5, utf8_display_width(u8string_to_string(u8"☀️ Sun")));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(2, utf8_display_width(u8string_to_string(u8"⚽️")));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(5, utf8_display_width(u8string_to_string(u8"مرحبًا")));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(50,
+                  utf8_display_width(u8string_to_string(
+                      u8"unicode/我爱你/☀️ Sun/Γειά σας/مرحبًا/⚽️/Карибського")));
 }
 
 TEST(utils, uft8_truncate) {
@@ -58,22 +65,22 @@ TEST(utils, uft8_truncate) {
   // -----------------123456789012345--
   auto const str = u8"我爱你/مرحبًا/⚽️";
 
-  EXPECT_EQ(str, u8trunc(str, 15));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(str, u8trunc(str, 15));
   // ----------123456789012345--
-  EXPECT_EQ(u8"我爱你/مرحبًا/", u8trunc(str, 14));
-  EXPECT_EQ(u8"我爱你/مرحبًا/", u8trunc(str, 13));
-  EXPECT_EQ(u8"我爱你/مرحبًا", u8trunc(str, 12));
-  EXPECT_EQ(u8"我爱你/مرحبً", u8trunc(str, 11));
-  EXPECT_EQ(u8"我爱你/مرح", u8trunc(str, 10));
-  EXPECT_EQ(u8"我爱你/مر", u8trunc(str, 9));
-  EXPECT_EQ(u8"我爱你/م", u8trunc(str, 8));
-  EXPECT_EQ(u8"我爱你/", u8trunc(str, 7));
-  EXPECT_EQ(u8"我爱你", u8trunc(str, 6));
-  EXPECT_EQ(u8"我爱", u8trunc(str, 5));
-  EXPECT_EQ(u8"我爱", u8trunc(str, 4));
-  EXPECT_EQ(u8"我", u8trunc(str, 3));
-  EXPECT_EQ(u8"我", u8trunc(str, 2));
-  EXPECT_EQ(u8"", u8trunc(str, 1));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(u8"我爱你/مرحبًا/", u8trunc(str, 14));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(u8"我爱你/مرحبًا/", u8trunc(str, 13));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(u8"我爱你/مرحبًا", u8trunc(str, 12));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(u8"我爱你/مرحبً", u8trunc(str, 11));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(u8"我爱你/مرح", u8trunc(str, 10));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(u8"我爱你/مر", u8trunc(str, 9));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(u8"我爱你/م", u8trunc(str, 8));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(u8"我爱你/", u8trunc(str, 7));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(u8"我爱你", u8trunc(str, 6));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(u8"我爱", u8trunc(str, 5));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(u8"我爱", u8trunc(str, 4));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(u8"我", u8trunc(str, 3));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(u8"我", u8trunc(str, 2));
+  EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(u8"", u8trunc(str, 1));
 }
 
 TEST(utils, shorten_path_ascii) {
@@ -183,7 +190,7 @@ TEST(utils, shorten_path_utf8) {
     for (size_t max_len = 0; max_len < expected.size(); ++max_len) {
       std::string path = u8string_to_string(path_u8);
       shorten_path_string(path, '/', max_len);
-      EXPECT_EQ(u8string_to_string(expected[max_len]), path);
+      EXPECT_EQ_U8STR(u8string_to_string(expected[max_len]), path);
     }
   }
 }