diff --git a/build-support/custom-modules/ns3-find-external-library.cmake b/build-support/custom-modules/ns3-find-external-library.cmake
index 018279014..5af089040 100644
--- a/build-support/custom-modules/ns3-find-external-library.cmake
+++ b/build-support/custom-modules/ns3-find-external-library.cmake
@@ -162,22 +162,6 @@ function(find_external_library)
         # cmake-format: on
     # Or enable NS3_VERBOSE to print the searched paths
 
-    # Print tested paths to the searched library and if it was found
-    if(${NS3_VERBOSE} AND (${CMAKE_VERSION} VERSION_LESS "3.17.0"))
-      log_find_searched_paths(
-        TARGET_TYPE
-        Library
-        TARGET_NAME
-        ${library}
-        SEARCH_RESULT
-        ${name}_library_internal_${library}
-        SEARCH_PATHS
-        ${library_search_paths}
-        SEARCH_SUFFIXES
-        ${suffixes}
-      )
-    endif()
-
     # After searching the library, the internal variable should have either the
     # absolute path to the library or the name of the variable appended with
     # -NOTFOUND
@@ -260,22 +244,6 @@ function(find_external_library)
               PATH_SUFFIXES ${suffixes}
     )
 
-    # Print tested paths to the searched header and if it was found
-    if(${NS3_VERBOSE} AND (${CMAKE_VERSION} VERSION_LESS "3.17.0"))
-      log_find_searched_paths(
-        TARGET_TYPE
-        Header
-        TARGET_NAME
-        ${header}
-        SEARCH_RESULT
-        ${name}_header_internal_${header}
-        SEARCH_PATHS
-        ${header_search_paths}
-        SEARCH_SUFFIXES
-        ${suffixes}
-      )
-    endif()
-
     # If the header file was not found, append to the not-found list
     if("${${name}_header_internal_${header}}" STREQUAL
        "${name}_header_internal_${header}-NOTFOUND"
diff --git a/build-support/macros-and-definitions.cmake b/build-support/macros-and-definitions.cmake
index 0e39a79ba..672fa37ab 100644
--- a/build-support/macros-and-definitions.cmake
+++ b/build-support/macros-and-definitions.cmake
@@ -530,14 +530,7 @@ macro(process_options)
 
   set(ENABLE_SQLITE False)
   if(${NS3_SQLITE})
-    # find_package(SQLite3 QUIET) # unsupported in CMake 3.10 We emulate the
-    # behavior of find_package below
-    find_external_library(
-      DEPENDENCY_NAME SQLite3
-      HEADER_NAME sqlite3.h
-      LIBRARY_NAME sqlite3
-      OUTPUT_VARIABLE "ENABLE_SQLITE_REASON"
-    )
+    find_package(SQLite3 QUIET)
 
     if(${SQLite3_FOUND})
       set(ENABLE_SQLITE True)
@@ -1230,7 +1223,7 @@ macro(process_options)
         ${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
         "Clang-tidy is incompatible with precompiled headers. Continuing without them."
       )
-    elseif(${CMAKE_VERSION} VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL "3.16.0")
+    else()
       # If ccache is not enable or was not found, we can continue with
       # precompiled headers
       if((NOT ${NS3_CCACHE}) OR ("${CCACHE}" STREQUAL "CCACHE-NOTFOUND"))
@@ -1260,11 +1253,6 @@ macro(process_options)
           )
         endif()
       endif()
-    else()
-      message(
-        STATUS
-          "CMake ${CMAKE_VERSION} does not support precompiled headers. Continuing without them"
-      )
     endif()
   endif()
 
diff --git a/scratch/CMakeLists.txt b/scratch/CMakeLists.txt
index adeeb2cf8..f46969d12 100644
--- a/scratch/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/scratch/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -40,17 +40,7 @@ function(create_scratch source_files)
   string(REPLACE "/" "_" scratch_dirname "${scratch_dirname}")
 
   # Get source name
-  if(${CMAKE_VERSION} VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL "3.14.0")
-    get_filename_component(scratch_name ${scratch_src} NAME_WLE)
-  else()
-    get_filename_component(scratch_name ${scratch_src} NAME)
-    string(FIND "${scratch_name}" "." ext_position REVERSE)
-    if(${ext_position} EQUAL -1)
-      message(FATAL_ERROR "Source file has no extension: ${scratch_src}")
-    else()
-      string(SUBSTRING "${scratch_name}" 0 ${ext_position} scratch_name)
-    endif()
-  endif()
+  get_filename_component(scratch_name ${scratch_src} NAME_WLE)
 
   set(target_prefix scratch_)
   if(scratch_dirname)