diff --git a/Modules/_sre.c b/Modules/_sre.c
index be6920df687..3f17d13c5dc 100644
--- a/Modules/_sre.c
+++ b/Modules/_sre.c
@@ -72,9 +72,18 @@ static char copyright[] =
 /* FIXME: maybe the limit should be 40000 / sizeof(void*) ? */
 #define USE_RECURSION_LIMIT 7500
 #else
+#if defined(__GNUC__) && (__GNUC__ > 2) && \
+    (defined(__FreeBSD__) || defined(PYOS_OS2))
+/* gcc 3.x, on FreeBSD and OS/2+EMX and at optimisation levels of
+ * -O3 (autoconf default) and -O2 (EMX port default), generates code
+ * for _sre that fails for the default recursion limit.
+ */
+#define USE_RECURSION_LIMIT 7500
+#else
 #define USE_RECURSION_LIMIT 10000
 #endif
 #endif
+#endif
 
 /* enables fast searching */
 #define USE_FAST_SEARCH