diff --git a/cmake/CMakeLists.jpeg b/cmake/CMakeLists.jpeg
index f0bd85a90d..74231eea04 100644
--- a/cmake/CMakeLists.jpeg
+++ b/cmake/CMakeLists.jpeg
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
+# -*- CMake -*- configuration for file for building libjpeg-turbo
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
 # When using CMake 3.4 and later, don't export symbols from executables unless
 # the CMAKE_ENABLE_EXPORTS variable is set.
 if(POLICY CMP0065)
@@ -612,4 +613,4 @@ else()
   set(COMPILE_FLAGS "-DBMP_SUPPORTED -DGIF_SUPPORTED -DPPM_SUPPORTED -DTARGA_SUPPORTED ${USE_SETMODE}")
   set(CJPEG_BMP_SOURCES rdbmp.c rdtarga.c)
   set(DJPEG_BMP_SOURCES wrbmp.c wrtarga.c)
-endif()
\ No newline at end of file
+endif()
diff --git a/cmake/CMakeLists.png b/cmake/CMakeLists.png
index 2521ab41be..0632044396 100644
--- a/cmake/CMakeLists.png
+++ b/cmake/CMakeLists.png
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# CMakeLists.txt
+# -*- CMake -*- configuration for file for building libpng
 
 # Copyright (C) 2018 Cosmin Truta
 # Copyright (C) 2007,2009-2018 Glenn Randers-Pehrson
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 # For conditions of distribution and use, see the disclaimer
 # and license in png.h
 
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
 cmake_policy(VERSION 3.1)
 # When using CMake 3.4 and later, don't export symbols from executables unless
 # the CMAKE_ENABLE_EXPORTS variable is set.
diff --git a/cmake/CMakeLists.txt b/cmake/CMakeLists.txt
index 88b7ec422e..24b08ae667 100644
--- a/cmake/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/cmake/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
+# -*- CMake -*- master configuration file for building LAMMPS
 ########################################
 # CMake build system
 # This file is part of LAMMPS
 # Created by Christoph Junghans and Richard Berger
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
 ########################################
 # set policy to silence warnings about ignoring <PackageName>_ROOT but use it
 if(POLICY CMP0074)
diff --git a/cmake/CMakeLists.zlib b/cmake/CMakeLists.zlib
index a33f14ce64..8496c6d7be 100644
--- a/cmake/CMakeLists.zlib
+++ b/cmake/CMakeLists.zlib
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
+# -*- CMake -*- configuration for file for building libz
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
 # When using CMake 3.4 and later, don't export symbols from executables unless
 # the CMAKE_ENABLE_EXPORTS variable is set.
 if(POLICY CMP0065)
@@ -192,4 +193,4 @@ add_library(zlibstatic STATIC ${ZLIB_SRCS} ${ZLIB_ASMS} ${ZLIB_PUBLIC_HDRS} ${ZL
 if(UNIX)
     # On unix-like platforms the library is almost always called libz
    set_target_properties(zlibstatic PROPERTIES OUTPUT_NAME z)
-endif()
\ No newline at end of file
+endif()
diff --git a/examples/COUPLE/plugin/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/COUPLE/plugin/CMakeLists.txt
index f4064d3f65..0e0371d47b 100644
--- a/examples/COUPLE/plugin/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/COUPLE/plugin/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,9 +1,8 @@
-##########################################
-# CMake build system for coupling to the LAMMPS library
+# -*- CMake -*- file for example programs that use the LAMMPS library
 # where the library is loaded dynamically at runtime.
 ##########################################
 
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
 
 # enforce out-of-source build
 if(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR} STREQUAL ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR})
diff --git a/examples/COUPLE/simple/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/COUPLE/simple/CMakeLists.txt
index 14c253e5a1..9e5bb1057d 100644
--- a/examples/COUPLE/simple/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/COUPLE/simple/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
+# -*- CMake -*- file for simple examples using the LAMMPS library interface
+
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
 
 # enforce out-of-source build
 if(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR} STREQUAL ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR})
diff --git a/examples/PACKAGES/pace/plugin/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/PACKAGES/pace/plugin/CMakeLists.txt
index 25fa877ffc..0701a754c4 100644
--- a/examples/PACKAGES/pace/plugin/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/PACKAGES/pace/plugin/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
-##########################################
-# CMake build system for plugin examples.
+# -*- CMake -*- build system for plugin examples.
 # The is meant to be used as a template for plugins that are
 # distributed independent from the LAMMPS package.
 ##########################################
 
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
 
 project(paceplugin VERSION 1.0 LANGUAGES CXX)
 
diff --git a/examples/kim/plugin/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/kim/plugin/CMakeLists.txt
index 78d117469d..367c0b5b78 100644
--- a/examples/kim/plugin/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/kim/plugin/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
-##########################################
-# CMake build system for plugin examples.
+# -*- CMake -*- file for building plugins.
 # The is meant to be used as a template for plugins that are
 # distributed independent from the LAMMPS package.
 ##########################################
diff --git a/examples/plugins/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/plugins/CMakeLists.txt
index 688835de56..a9c8f41f74 100644
--- a/examples/plugins/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/plugins/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
-##########################################
-# CMake build system for plugin examples.
+# -*- CMake -*- file for plugin examples.
 # The is meant to be used as a template for plugins that are
 # distributed independent from the LAMMPS package.
 ##########################################
 
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
 
 # enforce out-of-source build
 if(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR} STREQUAL ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR})
diff --git a/tools/phonon/CMakeLists.spglib b/tools/phonon/CMakeLists.spglib
index 566e58a2b6..65299a18e2 100644
--- a/tools/phonon/CMakeLists.spglib
+++ b/tools/phonon/CMakeLists.spglib
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
+# -*- CMake -*- file for building spglib for phana
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
 project(spglib C)
 set(CMAKE_MACOSX_RPATH 1)
 set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASE "-Wall -O2")
@@ -10,7 +11,6 @@ message(STATUS "Build type: ${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE}")
 
 set(CMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE ON)
 
-
 # Version numbers
 file(READ ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/version.h version_file)
 string(REGEX MATCH "SPGLIB_MAJOR_VERSION ([0-9]+)" spglib_major_version ${version_file})
diff --git a/tools/phonon/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/phonon/CMakeLists.txt
index 60da1cc79f..f3b9e53201 100644
--- a/tools/phonon/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tools/phonon/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
+# -*- CMake -*- configuration for building the PHONON package analysis tool: phana
 
 # Support Linux from Ubuntu 20.04LTS onward, CentOS 7.x (with EPEL),
 # macOS, MSVC 2019 (=Version 16)
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
 
 # set timestamp of downloaded files to that of archive
 if(POLICY CMP0135)
diff --git a/tools/phonon/tricubic/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/phonon/tricubic/CMakeLists.txt
index 190c6ceb80..f3a229c410 100644
--- a/tools/phonon/tricubic/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tools/phonon/tricubic/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
+# -*- CMake -*- configuration for building the tricubic library
 
 # Support Linux from Ubuntu 20.04LTS onward, CentOS 7.x (with EPEL),
 # macOS, MSVC 2019 (=Version 16)
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
 
 # set up project
 project(tricubic VERSION 1.1 DESCRIPTION "Tricubic library" LANGUAGES CXX)
diff --git a/tools/swig/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/swig/CMakeLists.txt
index 966837dc2f..162d2702c4 100644
--- a/tools/swig/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tools/swig/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-# CMake configuration for generating script language interfaces with SWIG
+# -*- CMake -*- configuration for generating LAMMPS script language wrappers with SWIG
 
 # set minimum CMake version required and switch to new policies for SWIG
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.14)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
 if(POLICY CMP0078)
   cmake_policy(SET CMP0078 NEW)
 endif()
diff --git a/unittest/CMakeLists.txt b/unittest/CMakeLists.txt
index f7be54f9ae..cad6c3213c 100644
--- a/unittest/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/unittest/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
-########################################
-# CMake build for automated testing
+# -*- CMake -*- build file for automated testing
 # This file is part of LAMMPS
 # Created by Axel Kohlmeyer and Richard Berger
 ########################################
-# download and build googletest framework
 
+# download and build googletest framework
 # cannot compile googletest anymore with the default GCC on RHEL 7.x
 if((CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID STREQUAL "GNU") AND (CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_VERSION VERSION_LESS 6.0))
   message(FATAL_ERROR "Need GNU C++ compiler version 6.x or later for unit testing")
diff --git a/unittest/c-library/CMakeLists.txt b/unittest/c-library/CMakeLists.txt
index 3e5b7a8cc0..8dcb9d5c5b 100644
--- a/unittest/c-library/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/unittest/c-library/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# -*- CMake -*- file for testing the c-library interface
 
 add_executable(test_library_open test_library_open.cpp test_main.cpp)
 target_link_libraries(test_library_open PRIVATE lammps GTest::GMock)
diff --git a/unittest/commands/CMakeLists.txt b/unittest/commands/CMakeLists.txt
index aa1bd22fa4..f6a73b56b3 100644
--- a/unittest/commands/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/unittest/commands/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# -*- CMake -*- file for testing LAMMPS commands
 
 add_executable(test_simple_commands test_simple_commands.cpp)
 
diff --git a/unittest/cplusplus/CMakeLists.txt b/unittest/cplusplus/CMakeLists.txt
index 9199e20792..445e0fffeb 100644
--- a/unittest/cplusplus/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/unittest/cplusplus/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# -*- CMake -*- file for testing the direct calls to individual C++ classes
 
 add_executable(test_lammps_class test_lammps_class.cpp)
 target_link_libraries(test_lammps_class PRIVATE lammps GTest::GMockMain)
diff --git a/unittest/force-styles/CMakeLists.libyaml b/unittest/force-styles/CMakeLists.libyaml
index 51e8589f7b..8d4760f18c 100644
--- a/unittest/force-styles/CMakeLists.libyaml
+++ b/unittest/force-styles/CMakeLists.libyaml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Custom minimal -*- CMake -*- file for libyaml
 
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
 project(libyaml VERSION 0.2.5
   DESCRIPTION "LibYAML a YAML parser and emitter library"
   LANGUAGES C
diff --git a/unittest/force-styles/CMakeLists.txt b/unittest/force-styles/CMakeLists.txt
index dfffdfea0c..5742bb6436 100644
--- a/unittest/force-styles/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/unittest/force-styles/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# -*- CMake -*- file for tests of classes computing or modifying forces
 
 find_package(YAML)
 if(NOT YAML_FOUND)
diff --git a/unittest/formats/CMakeLists.txt b/unittest/formats/CMakeLists.txt
index 5b5dd056c9..93ea2f3b32 100644
--- a/unittest/formats/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/unittest/formats/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# -*- CMake -*- file for tests of file reading or writing classes and functions in LAMMPS
 
 add_executable(test_atom_styles test_atom_styles.cpp)
 target_link_libraries(test_atom_styles PRIVATE lammps GTest::GMock)
diff --git a/unittest/fortran/CMakeLists.txt b/unittest/fortran/CMakeLists.txt
index 6d6fe4cd54..de6b6cf7a8 100644
--- a/unittest/fortran/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/unittest/fortran/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+# -*- CMake -*- file for testing the Fortran interface to LAMMPS
+
 include(CheckGeneratorSupport)
 if(NOT CMAKE_GENERATOR_SUPPORT_FORTRAN)
   message(STATUS "Skipping Tests for the LAMMPS Fortran Module: no Fortran support in build tool")
diff --git a/unittest/python/CMakeLists.txt b/unittest/python/CMakeLists.txt
index fbd7ca0672..fd18d7463d 100644
--- a/unittest/python/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/unittest/python/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
-# Test calling Python from LAMMPS (and importing the LAMMPS module
-# inside those functions). This can do an "anonymous" import of symbols
-# from the executable, so the shared library is not needed. The
-# availability of the PYTHON package is tested for inside the tester.
+# -*- CMake -*- file for tests calling Python from LAMMPS (and importing
+# the LAMMPS module inside those functions). This can do an "anonymous"
+# import of symbols from the executable, so the shared library is not
+# needed. The availability of the PYTHON package is tested for inside
+# the tester.
 
 set(TEST_INPUT_FOLDER ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
 
diff --git a/unittest/tools/CMakeLists.txt b/unittest/tools/CMakeLists.txt
index 4e0180311e..15576c60c1 100644
--- a/unittest/tools/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/unittest/tools/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# -*- CMake -*- file for tests of utily functions and classes in LAMMPS
 
 # we use python 3's subprocess module to run the tools and check the output
 if(CMAKE_VERSION VERSION_LESS 3.12)
diff --git a/unittest/utils/CMakeLists.txt b/unittest/utils/CMakeLists.txt
index 8c1a5a3f6a..c277a0353b 100644
--- a/unittest/utils/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/unittest/utils/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# -*- CMake -*- file for tests of utily functions and classes in LAMMPS
 
 add_executable(test_tokenizer test_tokenizer.cpp)
 target_link_libraries(test_tokenizer PRIVATE lammps GTest::GMockMain)