diff --git a/modules/dnn/CMakeLists.txt b/modules/dnn/CMakeLists.txt
index 0bcd77355..1bd6ce7cd 100644
--- a/modules/dnn/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/modules/dnn/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ if(WINRT)
 endif()
 
 set(the_description "Deep neural network module. It allows to load models from different frameworks and to make forward pass")
-set(OPENCV_MODULE_IS_PART_OF_WORLD OFF)
 
 ocv_add_module(dnn opencv_core opencv_imgproc PRIVATE_REQUIRED "${LAPACK_LIBRARIES}" WRAP python matlab)
 ocv_warnings_disable(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS -Wno-shadow -Wno-parentheses -Wmaybe-uninitialized -Wsign-promo
@@ -36,7 +35,7 @@ endif()
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Resolve libprotobuf dependency
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-include(cmake/OpenCVFindLibProtobuf.cmake)
+include(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/OpenCVFindLibProtobuf.cmake)
 ocv_source_group("Src\\protobuf" FILES ${PROTOBUF_SRCS} ${PROTOBUF_HDRS})
 ocv_module_include_directories(include ${PROTOBUF_INCLUDE_DIR})
 
diff --git a/modules/dnn/cmake/OpenCVFindLibProtobuf.cmake b/modules/dnn/cmake/OpenCVFindLibProtobuf.cmake
index eb2a729cc..b67bcf718 100644
--- a/modules/dnn/cmake/OpenCVFindLibProtobuf.cmake
+++ b/modules/dnn/cmake/OpenCVFindLibProtobuf.cmake
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ if(PROTOBUF_FOUND)
   # nothing
 else()
   include(${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/download_protobuf.cmake)
-  add_subdirectory(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/3rdparty/protobuf)
+  add_subdirectory(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/3rdparty/protobuf ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/3rdparty/protobuf)
   set(PROTOBUF_LIBRARIES libprotobuf)
   set(PROTOBUF_INCLUDE_DIR ${PROTOBUF_CPP_PATH}/protobuf-3.1.0/src)
 endif()
diff --git a/modules/dnn/src/caffe/caffe_importer.cpp b/modules/dnn/src/caffe/caffe_importer.cpp
index 5f66393c8..312671e3e 100644
--- a/modules/dnn/src/caffe/caffe_importer.cpp
+++ b/modules/dnn/src/caffe/caffe_importer.cpp
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
 //
 //M*/
 
-#include "precomp.hpp"
+#include "../precomp.hpp"
 using namespace cv;
 using namespace cv::dnn;
 
diff --git a/modules/dnn/src/tensorflow/tf_importer.cpp b/modules/dnn/src/tensorflow/tf_importer.cpp
index 6caccefad..b6131d460 100644
--- a/modules/dnn/src/tensorflow/tf_importer.cpp
+++ b/modules/dnn/src/tensorflow/tf_importer.cpp
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 Implementation of Tensorflow models parser
 */
 
-#include "precomp.hpp"
+#include "../precomp.hpp"
 using namespace cv;
 using namespace cv::dnn;
 
diff --git a/modules/hdf/CMakeLists.txt b/modules/hdf/CMakeLists.txt
index b6bfa4998..2a1ae68bd 100644
--- a/modules/hdf/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/modules/hdf/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -31,6 +31,5 @@ ocv_warnings_disable(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS -Winvalid-offsetof)
 
 set(the_description "Hierarchical Data Format I/O")
 ocv_define_module(hdf opencv_core WRAP python)
-
-include_directories(${HDF5_INCLUDE_DIRS})
-target_link_libraries(opencv_hdf ${HDF5_LIBRARIES})
+ocv_target_link_libraries(${the_module} ${HDF5_LIBRARIES})
+ocv_include_directories(${HDF5_INCLUDE_DIRS})
diff --git a/modules/saliency/CMakeLists.txt b/modules/saliency/CMakeLists.txt
index 1d0d40ee2..dcc83ebb0 100644
--- a/modules/saliency/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/modules/saliency/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ if(CV_ICC AND NOT MSVC)
 endif()
 
 set(the_description "Saliency API")
-set(OPENCV_MODULE_IS_PART_OF_WORLD OFF)
 
 ocv_define_module(saliency opencv_imgproc opencv_highgui opencv_features2d WRAP python)
 
diff --git a/modules/saliency/src/BING/CmFile.cpp b/modules/saliency/src/BING/CmFile.cpp
index 2c9ba9dd0..c65ae703b 100644
--- a/modules/saliency/src/BING/CmFile.cpp
+++ b/modules/saliency/src/BING/CmFile.cpp
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
  //
  //M*/
 
-#include "precomp.hpp"
+#include "../precomp.hpp"
 #include "CmFile.hpp"
 
 namespace cv
diff --git a/modules/saliency/src/BING/CmShow.cpp b/modules/saliency/src/BING/CmShow.cpp
index 838ccb9e0..3482b7027 100644
--- a/modules/saliency/src/BING/CmShow.cpp
+++ b/modules/saliency/src/BING/CmShow.cpp
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
  //
  //M*/
 
-#include "precomp.hpp"
+#include "../precomp.hpp"
 #include "CmShow.hpp"
 #include "opencv2/core.hpp"
 #include <opencv2/highgui.hpp>
diff --git a/modules/saliency/src/BING/FilterTIG.cpp b/modules/saliency/src/BING/FilterTIG.cpp
index d9796bcd7..07206180b 100644
--- a/modules/saliency/src/BING/FilterTIG.cpp
+++ b/modules/saliency/src/BING/FilterTIG.cpp
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
  //
  //M*/
 
-#include "precomp.hpp"
+#include "../precomp.hpp"
 #include "CmShow.hpp"
 
 namespace cv
diff --git a/modules/saliency/src/BING/ValStructVec.cpp b/modules/saliency/src/BING/ValStructVec.cpp
index 097c9be24..8343ced1d 100644
--- a/modules/saliency/src/BING/ValStructVec.cpp
+++ b/modules/saliency/src/BING/ValStructVec.cpp
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
  //
  //M*/
 
-#include "precomp.hpp"
+#include "../precomp.hpp"
 
 namespace cv
 {
diff --git a/modules/saliency/src/BING/objectnessBING.cpp b/modules/saliency/src/BING/objectnessBING.cpp
index cd3019b9b..6e83a094f 100644
--- a/modules/saliency/src/BING/objectnessBING.cpp
+++ b/modules/saliency/src/BING/objectnessBING.cpp
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
  //
  //M*/
 
-#include "precomp.hpp"
+#include "../precomp.hpp"
 
 #include "BING/kyheader.hpp"
 #include "CmTimer.hpp"
diff --git a/modules/xfeatures2d/CMakeLists.txt b/modules/xfeatures2d/CMakeLists.txt
index f295bddae..35402f2a2 100644
--- a/modules/xfeatures2d/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/modules/xfeatures2d/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 set(the_description "Contributed/Experimental Algorithms for Salient 2D Features Detection")
 ocv_define_module(xfeatures2d opencv_core opencv_imgproc opencv_features2d opencv_calib3d opencv_shape opencv_highgui opencv_videoio opencv_ml
                   OPTIONAL opencv_cudaarithm WRAP python java)
-include(cmake/download_vgg.cmake)
-include(cmake/download_boostdesc.cmake)
+include(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/download_vgg.cmake)
+include(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/download_boostdesc.cmake)
diff --git a/modules/xfeatures2d/src/pct_signatures/grayscale_bitmap.cpp b/modules/xfeatures2d/src/pct_signatures/grayscale_bitmap.cpp
index 0ed6a7632..4553fa934 100644
--- a/modules/xfeatures2d/src/pct_signatures/grayscale_bitmap.cpp
+++ b/modules/xfeatures2d/src/pct_signatures/grayscale_bitmap.cpp
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ References:
     ACM, 2010.
 */
 
-#include "precomp.hpp"
+#include "../precomp.hpp"
 
 #include "grayscale_bitmap.hpp"
 
diff --git a/modules/xfeatures2d/src/pct_signatures/pct_clusterizer.cpp b/modules/xfeatures2d/src/pct_signatures/pct_clusterizer.cpp
index 71fccafc8..acbd0205d 100644
--- a/modules/xfeatures2d/src/pct_signatures/pct_clusterizer.cpp
+++ b/modules/xfeatures2d/src/pct_signatures/pct_clusterizer.cpp
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ References:
     ACM, 2010.
 */
 
-#include "precomp.hpp"
+#include "../precomp.hpp"
 
 #include "opencv2/core/core_c.h"    // <- because CV_REDUCE_SUM was undeclared without it
 #include "pct_clusterizer.hpp"
diff --git a/modules/xfeatures2d/src/pct_signatures/pct_sampler.cpp b/modules/xfeatures2d/src/pct_signatures/pct_sampler.cpp
index 2426d2352..766b5076f 100644
--- a/modules/xfeatures2d/src/pct_signatures/pct_sampler.cpp
+++ b/modules/xfeatures2d/src/pct_signatures/pct_sampler.cpp
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ References:
     ACM, 2010.
 */
 
-#include "precomp.hpp"
+#include "../precomp.hpp"
 
 #include "pct_sampler.hpp"
 
diff --git a/modules/ximgproc/CMakeLists.txt b/modules/ximgproc/CMakeLists.txt
index 91ed65e0e..1a6860d12 100644
--- a/modules/ximgproc/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/modules/ximgproc/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,2 @@
 set(the_description "Extended image processing module. It includes edge-aware filters and etc.")
-set(OPENCV_MODULE_IS_PART_OF_WORLD OFF)
 ocv_define_module(ximgproc opencv_imgproc opencv_core opencv_highgui opencv_calib3d WRAP python)
-
-target_link_libraries(opencv_ximgproc)
diff --git a/modules/xobjdetect/CMakeLists.txt b/modules/xobjdetect/CMakeLists.txt
index 567909b8a..598987f90 100644
--- a/modules/xobjdetect/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/modules/xobjdetect/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 set(the_description "Object detection algorithms")
 ocv_define_module(xobjdetect opencv_core opencv_imgproc opencv_highgui opencv_objdetect WRAP python)
 if (NOT APPLE_FRAMEWORK)
-    add_subdirectory(tools)
+    add_subdirectory(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/tools ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/tools)
 endif()