diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index b92815b..0edded1 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -48,10 +48,11 @@ is_icc_cl = cpp.get_id() == 'intel-cl'
 is_icc = is_icc_cl or cpp.get_id() == 'intel'
 is_lld = cpp.get_linker_id() == 'ld.lld'
 has_exceptions = get_option('cpp_eh') != 'none'
+unreleased_features = get_option('unreleased_features')
 
 build_tests = (get_option('build_tests') or is_devel) and not is_subproject
 build_examples = (get_option('build_examples') or is_devel) and not is_subproject
-build_tt = (get_option('build_tt') or is_devel) and not is_subproject
+build_tt = (get_option('build_tt') or is_devel) and not is_subproject and has_exceptions and not unreleased_features
 build_lib = get_option('build_lib') or get_option('compile_library') or build_tests or build_examples or build_tt
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -108,7 +109,6 @@ if is_pedantic
 		'-Wold-style-cast',
 		'-Woverloaded-virtual',
 		'-Wpacked',
-		'-Wpadded',
 		'-Wpointer-arith',
 		'-Wredundant-decls',
 		'-Wshadow',
@@ -125,24 +125,19 @@ if is_pedantic
 		'-Wuseless-cast',
 		'-Wvariadic-macros',
 		'-Wwrite-strings',
-		'-Wmissing-noreturn',
-		# msvc
-		'/Wall'
+		'-Wmissing-noreturn'
 	)
-	if is_release
-		global_args += cpp.get_supported_arguments(
-			'-Wsuggest-attribute=const',
-			'-Wsuggest-attribute=pure'
-		)
-	endif
 endif
+# unnecessary pedantry:
 global_args += cpp.get_supported_arguments(
 	'-Wno-c++98-compat',
 	'-Wno-c++98-compat-pedantic',
 	'-Wno-documentation',
 	'-Wno-documentation-unknown-command',
 	'-Wno-switch-enum',
-	'-Wno-covered-switch-default'
+	'-Wno-covered-switch-default',
+	'-Wno-padded',
+	'-Wno-float-equal'
 )
 if get_option('time_trace')
 	global_args += cpp.get_supported_arguments('-ftime-trace')
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 59c1b92..817b874 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -2,9 +2,10 @@ option('devel', 				type: 'boolean', value: false,  description: 'Tell meson whe
 option('build_lib',				type: 'boolean', value: false,	description: 'Compile the library, rather than consuming it in header-only mode. (default: false) (implied by devel)')
 option('build_examples',		type: 'boolean', value: false,	description: 'Build the examples (default: false) (implied by devel)')
 option('build_tests',			type: 'boolean', value: false,	description: 'Build tests (default: false) (implied by devel)')
-option('build_tt',				type: 'boolean', value: false,	description: 'Enable to build the toml-test encoder and decoder. (default: false) (implied by devel)')
+option('build_tt',				type: 'boolean', value: false,	description: 'Enable to build the toml-test encoder and decoder. (default: false) (implied by devel) (disabled by unreleased_features)')
 option('pedantic',				type: 'boolean', value: false,	description: 'Enable as many compiler warnings as possible (default: false) (implied by devel)')
 option('time_trace',			type: 'boolean', value: false,	description: 'Enable the -ftime-trace option (Clang only)')
+option('unreleased_features',	type: 'boolean', value: false,	description: 'Enable TOML_UNRELEASED_FEATURES=1 (default: false) (only relevant when compiling the library)')
 
 option('generate_cmake_config',	type: 'boolean', value: true,	description: 'Generate a cmake package config file (default: true - no effect when included as a subproject)')
 option('use_vendored_libs',		type: 'boolean', value: true,	description: 'Use the libs from the vendor dir when building tests.')
diff --git a/src/meson.build b/src/meson.build
index 18c4916..a17e938 100644
--- a/src/meson.build
+++ b/src/meson.build
@@ -11,14 +11,25 @@ lib_args = cpp.get_supported_arguments('-DTOML_HEADER_ONLY=0')
 if get_option('default_library') != 'static'
 	lib_args += cpp.get_supported_arguments('-DTOML_SHARED_LIB=1')
 endif
-if is_devel
+if unreleased_features
 	lib_args += cpp.get_supported_arguments('-DTOML_ENABLE_UNRELEASED_FEATURES=1')
 endif
 
+# these are the _internal_ args, just for compiling the lib
+lib_internal_args = []
+lib_internal_args += global_args
+lib_internal_args += lib_args
+if is_pedantic and is_release
+	lib_internal_args += cpp.get_supported_arguments(
+		'-Wsuggest-attribute=const',
+		'-Wsuggest-attribute=pure'
+	)
+endif
+
 tomlplusplus_lib = library(
 	meson.project_name(),
 	files('toml.cpp'),
-	cpp_args: [ global_args, lib_args ],
+	cpp_args: lib_internal_args,
 	gnu_symbol_visibility: 'hidden',
 	include_directories: include_dir,
 	install: not is_subproject,
diff --git a/toml-test/tt.h b/toml-test/tt.h
index 58596cc..cc423d9 100644
--- a/toml-test/tt.h
+++ b/toml-test/tt.h
@@ -40,6 +40,4 @@
 #pragma warning(pop)
 #endif
 
-#define TOML_ENABLE_UNRELEASED_FEATURES 0
-#define TOML_EXCEPTIONS					1
 #include <toml++/toml.h>