diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 630f12ed..4a31995f 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
 
 set(CPPUDDLE_VERSION_MAJOR 0)
 set(CPPUDDLE_VERSION_MINOR 3)
-set(CPPUDDLE_VERSION_PATCH 0)
+set(CPPUDDLE_VERSION_PATCH 1)
 set(CPPUDDLE_VERSION_STRING "${CPPUDDLE_VERSION_MAJOR}.${CPPUDDLE_VERSION_MINOR}.${CPPUDDLE_VERSION_PATCH}.")
 
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ set(CPPUDDLE_WITH_MAX_NUMBER_GPUS "1" CACHE STRING "Number of GPUs that will be
 # HPX-related options
 option(CPPUDDLE_WITH_HPX "Enable basic HPX integration and examples" OFF)
 option(CPPUDDLE_WITH_HPX_AWARE_ALLOCATORS "Enable HPX-aware allocators for even better HPX integration" ON)
-set(CPPUDDLE_WITH_HPX_MUTEX OFF CACHE BOOL
+set(CPPUDDLE_WITH_HPX_MUTEX ON CACHE BOOL
   "Use HPX spinlock mutex instead of std::mutex")
 set(CPPUDDLE_WITH_NUMBER_BUCKETS "128" CACHE STRING "Number of internal recycle buckets buffer type. Should ideally match the intended number of HPX workers or be 1 in non-HPX builds.")
 # Test-related options
@@ -49,13 +49,6 @@ if (CPPUDDLE_WITH_HPX)
   find_package(HPX 1.8.0 REQUIRED) # older versions might work but are untested with the current cppuddle
 endif()
 
-# HPX mutex requires HPX-Support
-if(CPPUDDLE_WITH_HPX_MUTEX)
-  if(NOT CPPUDDLE_WITH_HPX)
-    message(FATAL_ERROR " CPPUDDLE_WITH_HPX_MUTEX requires a build with HPX (CPPUDDLE_WITH_HPX=ON)")
-  endif()
-endif()
-
 # HPX build are really better with HPX-aware allocators: Warn if disabled
 if(CPPUDDLE_WITH_HPX)
   if(NOT CPPUDDLE_WITH_HPX_AWARE_ALLOCATORS)
diff --git a/include/aggregation_manager.hpp b/include/aggregation_manager.hpp
index e31022c9..dfdf5ef2 100644
--- a/include/aggregation_manager.hpp
+++ b/include/aggregation_manager.hpp
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@
 #ifndef WORK_AGGREGATION_MANAGER
 #define WORK_AGGREGATION_MANAGER
 
+#ifndef CPPUDDLE_HAVE_HPX
+#error "Work aggregation allocators/executors require CPPUDDLE_WITH_HPX=ON"
+#endif
+
 #include <stdexcept>
 #define DEBUG_AGGREGATION_CALLS 1
 
@@ -48,6 +52,16 @@
 #include "../include/stream_manager.hpp"
 #include "../include/detail/config.hpp"
 
+#ifndef CPPUDDLE_HAVE_HPX_MUTEX
+#pragma message                                                                \
+    "Work aggregation will use hpx::mutex internally, despite CPPUDDLE_WITH_HPX_MUTEX=OFF"
+#pragma message                                                                \
+    "Consider using CPPUDDLE_WITH_HPX_MUTEX=ON, to make the rest of CPPuddle also use hpx::mutex"
+#endif
+namespace recycler {
+  using aggregation_mutex_t = hpx::mutex;
+}
+
 //===============================================================================
 //===============================================================================
 // Helper functions/classes
diff --git a/include/detail/config.hpp b/include/detail/config.hpp
index 1764ffff..2a06b1af 100644
--- a/include/detail/config.hpp
+++ b/include/detail/config.hpp
@@ -32,10 +32,8 @@ namespace recycler {
 
 #if defined(CPPUDDLE_HAVE_HPX) && defined(CPPUDDLE_HAVE_HPX_MUTEX)
 using mutex_t = hpx::spinlock_no_backoff;
-using aggregation_mutex_t = hpx::mutex;
 #else
 using mutex_t = std::mutex;
-using aggregation_mutex_t = std::mutex;
 #endif
 
 // Recycling configuration