diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index b2530c6b..515023b8 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -182,6 +182,11 @@ else()
 endif()
 
 
+# If BOOST_ROOT is set, ignore system-wide Boost
+if(DEFINED ENV{BOOST_ROOT})
+  set(Boost_NO_SYSTEM_PATHS ON)
+endif()
+
 if(MSVC)
   set(Boost_USE_STATIC_LIBS ON)
 endif()
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 13558e5f..f298e3a8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -43,13 +43,17 @@ Recommended OS version: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.
        sudo apt-get install -y build-essential g++ python-dev autotools-dev libicu-dev libbz2-dev cmake git screen checkinstall zlib1g-dev mesa-common-dev libglu1-mesa-dev
 
 2. Download and build Boost
+(Assuming you have cloned Zano into the 'zano' folder. If you used a different location for Zano, edit line 4 accordingly.)
 
        curl -OL https://boostorg.jfrog.io/artifactory/main/release/1.70.0/source/boost_1_70_0.tar.bz2
        echo "430ae8354789de4fd19ee52f3b1f739e1fba576f0aded0897c3c2bc00fb38778  boost_1_70_0.tar.bz2" | shasum -c && tar -xjf boost_1_70_0.tar.bz2
-       cd boost_1_70_0
+       rm boost_1_70_0.tar.bz2 && cd boost_1_70_0
+       patch -p0 < ../zano/utils/boost_1.70_gcc_8.patch || cd ..
        ./bootstrap.sh --with-libraries=system,filesystem,thread,date_time,chrono,regex,serialization,atomic,program_options,locale,timer,log
        ./b2
 
+Make sure that you see "The Boost C++ Libraries were successfully built!" message at the end.
+
 3. Install Qt\
 (*GUI version only, skip this step if you're building server version*)
 
diff --git a/src/serialization/binary_archive.h b/src/serialization/binary_archive.h
index b951a106..3fe31e72 100644
--- a/src/serialization/binary_archive.h
+++ b/src/serialization/binary_archive.h
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ template <>
 struct binary_archive<false> : public binary_archive_base<std::istream, false>
 {
   explicit binary_archive(stream_type &s) : base_type(s) {
-    stream_type::streampos pos = stream_.tellg();
+    stream_type::pos_type pos = stream_.tellg();
     stream_.seekg(0, std::ios_base::end);
     eof_pos_ = stream_.tellg();
     stream_.seekg(pos);
diff --git a/utils/boost_1.70_gcc_8.patch b/utils/boost_1.70_gcc_8.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..812eed14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/boost_1.70_gcc_8.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# This patch fixes compilation issue in Boost 1.70-1.71 while it is being compiled by GCC ver >= 8.3
+# -- sowle
+# see also: https://github.com/boostorg/thread/pull/297
+#
+--- boost/thread/pthread/thread_data.hpp.orig   2023-10-10 20:22:30.860192033 +0000
++++ boost/thread/pthread/thread_data.hpp        2023-10-10 18:19:22.460764089 +0000
+@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@
+ #else
+           std::size_t page_size = ::sysconf( _SC_PAGESIZE);
+ #endif
+-#if PTHREAD_STACK_MIN > 0
++#ifdef PTHREAD_STACK_MIN
+           if (size<PTHREAD_STACK_MIN) size=PTHREAD_STACK_MIN;
+ #endif
+           size = ((size+page_size-1)/page_size)*page_size;