diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 241e2b4df..6b4cc80d3 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -451,6 +451,7 @@ ExternalProject_Add(generate_translations_header
   CMAKE_ARGS -DLRELEASE_PATH=${LRELEASE_PATH}
   INSTALL_COMMAND cmake -E echo "")
 include_directories("${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/translations")
+add_subdirectory(external)
 
 # Final setup for libunbound
 include_directories(${UNBOUND_INCLUDE})
@@ -1023,5 +1024,3 @@ if (iwyu_tool_path AND PYTHONINTERP_FOUND)
     VERBATIM
   )
 endif()
-
-add_subdirectory(external)
diff --git a/external/easylogging++/CMakeLists.txt b/external/easylogging++/CMakeLists.txt
index b9b9aea91..35fb86552 100644
--- a/external/easylogging++/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/external/easylogging++/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ add_library(easylogging
 
 include_directories("${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}")
 include_directories("${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}")
-include_directories(SYSTEM ${Boost_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 target_link_libraries(easylogging
   PRIVATE
     ${CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT}
diff --git a/external/easylogging++/easylogging++.cc b/external/easylogging++/easylogging++.cc
index a5a4a64b7..b89fd3daf 100644
--- a/external/easylogging++/easylogging++.cc
+++ b/external/easylogging++/easylogging++.cc
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 #include "easylogging++.h"
 
 #include <unistd.h>
-#include <boost/algorithm/string.hpp>
 
 #if defined(AUTO_INITIALIZE_EASYLOGGINGPP)
 INITIALIZE_EASYLOGGINGPP
@@ -2438,7 +2437,19 @@ void DefaultLogDispatchCallback::handle(const LogDispatchData* data) {
   if (strchr(msg.c_str(), '\n'))
   {
     std::vector<std::string> v;
-    boost::split(v, msg, boost::is_any_of("\n"));
+    const char *s = msg.c_str();
+    while (true)
+    {
+      const char *ptr = strchr(s, '\n');
+      if (!ptr)
+      {
+        if (*s)
+          v.push_back(s);
+        break;
+      }
+      v.push_back(std::string(s, ptr - s));
+      s = ptr + 1;
+    }
     for (const std::string &s: v)
     {
       LogMessage msgline(logmsg->level(), logmsg->color(), logmsg->file(), logmsg->line(), logmsg->func(), logmsg->verboseLevel(), logmsg->logger(), &s);