diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index e358b23dd..de6e14bc4 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ Improved terminal support
 
 For distributors
 ----------------
-- The minimum version of CMake required to build fish was raised to 3.5.0.
+- *This placeholder silences a sphinx doc warning, so the last section is not empty.*
 
 --------------
  
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index fda837cd3..3913ab668 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.5)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.2)
 
 if(POLICY CMP0066)
   cmake_policy(SET CMP0066 OLD)
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 4d63647d4..eaf8dd180 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ Dependencies
 Compiling fish requires:
 
 -  a C++11 compiler (g++ 4.8 or later, or clang 3.3 or later)
--  CMake (version 3.5 or later)
+-  CMake (version 3.2 or later)
 -  a curses implementation such as ncurses (headers and libraries)
 -  PCRE2 (headers and libraries) - a copy is included with fish
 -  gettext (headers and libraries) - optional, for translation support
diff --git a/cmake/ConfigureChecks.cmake b/cmake/ConfigureChecks.cmake
index 924c0a41d..a4c5efe42 100644
--- a/cmake/ConfigureChecks.cmake
+++ b/cmake/ConfigureChecks.cmake
@@ -56,6 +56,10 @@ endif()
 
 # Get threads.
 set(THREADS_PREFER_PTHREAD_FLAG ON)
+# FindThreads < 3.4.0 doesn't work for C++-only projects
+if(CMAKE_VERSION VERSION_LESS 3.4.0)
+    enable_language(C)
+endif()
 find_package(Threads REQUIRED)
 
 # Detect WSL. Does not match against native Windows/WIN32.