diff --git a/include/boost/regex/v4/basic_regex_parser.hpp b/include/boost/regex/v4/basic_regex_parser.hpp
index 6c7065f0..85b43eaf 100644
--- a/include/boost/regex/v4/basic_regex_parser.hpp
+++ b/include/boost/regex/v4/basic_regex_parser.hpp
@@ -859,7 +859,7 @@ escape_type_class_jump:
       {
          bool have_brace = false;
          bool negative = false;
-         static const char* incomplete_message = "Incomplete \\g escape found.";
+         static const char incomplete_message[] = "Incomplete \\g escape found.";
          if(++m_position == m_end)
          {
             fail(regex_constants::error_escape, m_position - m_base, incomplete_message);
@@ -1133,7 +1133,7 @@ bool basic_regex_parser<charT, traits>::parse_repeat(std::size_t low, std::size_
 template <class charT, class traits>
 bool basic_regex_parser<charT, traits>::parse_repeat_range(bool isbasic)
 {
-   static const char* incomplete_message = "Missing } in quantified repetition.";
+   static const char incomplete_message[] = "Missing } in quantified repetition.";
    //
    // parse a repeat-range:
    //
@@ -1339,7 +1339,7 @@ bool basic_regex_parser<charT, traits>::parse_alt()
 template <class charT, class traits>
 bool basic_regex_parser<charT, traits>::parse_set()
 {
-   static const char* incomplete_message = "Character set declaration starting with [ terminated prematurely - either no ] was found or the set had no content.";
+   static const char incomplete_message[] = "Character set declaration starting with [ terminated prematurely - either no ] was found or the set had no content.";
    ++m_position;
    if(m_position == m_end)
    {
@@ -1431,7 +1431,7 @@ bool basic_regex_parser<charT, traits>::parse_set()
 template <class charT, class traits>
 bool basic_regex_parser<charT, traits>::parse_inner_set(basic_char_set<charT, traits>& char_set)
 {
-   static const char* incomplete_message = "Character class declaration starting with [ terminated prematurely - either no ] was found or the set had no content.";
+   static const char incomplete_message[] = "Character class declaration starting with [ terminated prematurely - either no ] was found or the set had no content.";
    //
    // we have either a character class [:name:]
    // a collating element [.name.]
diff --git a/include/boost/regex/v4/regex_traits_defaults.hpp b/include/boost/regex/v4/regex_traits_defaults.hpp
index e58d6bae..c92d484b 100644
--- a/include/boost/regex/v4/regex_traits_defaults.hpp
+++ b/include/boost/regex/v4/regex_traits_defaults.hpp
@@ -208,8 +208,8 @@ int get_default_class_id(const charT* p1, const charT* p2)
       {data+63, data+67,}, // word
       {data+67, data+73,}, // xdigit
    };
-   static const character_pointer_range<charT>* ranges_begin = ranges;
-   static const character_pointer_range<charT>* ranges_end = ranges + (sizeof(ranges)/sizeof(ranges[0]));
+   const character_pointer_range<charT>* ranges_begin = ranges;
+   const character_pointer_range<charT>* ranges_end = ranges + (sizeof(ranges)/sizeof(ranges[0]));
 
    character_pointer_range<charT> t = { p1, p2, };
    const character_pointer_range<charT>* p = std::lower_bound(ranges_begin, ranges_end, t);
diff --git a/src/icu.cpp b/src/icu.cpp
index 5f249e2d..cb11f323 100644
--- a/src/icu.cpp
+++ b/src/icu.cpp
@@ -354,8 +354,8 @@ icu_regex_traits::char_class_type icu_regex_traits::lookup_icu_mask(const ::UCha
    };
 
 
-   static const BOOST_REGEX_DETAIL_NS::character_pointer_range< ::UChar32>* ranges_begin = range_data;
-   static const BOOST_REGEX_DETAIL_NS::character_pointer_range< ::UChar32>* ranges_end = range_data + (sizeof(range_data)/sizeof(range_data[0]));
+   const BOOST_REGEX_DETAIL_NS::character_pointer_range< ::UChar32>* ranges_begin = range_data;
+   const BOOST_REGEX_DETAIL_NS::character_pointer_range< ::UChar32>* ranges_end = range_data + (sizeof(range_data)/sizeof(range_data[0]));
    
    BOOST_REGEX_DETAIL_NS::character_pointer_range< ::UChar32> t = { p1, p2, };
    const BOOST_REGEX_DETAIL_NS::character_pointer_range< ::UChar32>* p = std::lower_bound(ranges_begin, ranges_end, t);
diff --git a/src/regex_traits_defaults.cpp b/src/regex_traits_defaults.cpp
index 0b66c68d..0ddb01dd 100644
--- a/src/regex_traits_defaults.cpp
+++ b/src/regex_traits_defaults.cpp
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ BOOST_REGEX_DECL bool BOOST_REGEX_CALL is_combining_implementation(boost::uint_l
 //
 // these are the POSIX collating names:
 //
-BOOST_REGEX_DECL const char* def_coll_names[] = {
+BOOST_REGEX_DECL extern const char* const def_coll_names[] = {
 "NUL", "SOH", "STX", "ETX", "EOT", "ENQ", "ACK", "alert", "backspace", "tab", "newline", 
 "vertical-tab", "form-feed", "carriage-return", "SO", "SI", "DLE", "DC1", "DC2", "DC3", "DC4", "NAK", 
 "SYN", "ETB", "CAN", "EM", "SUB", "ESC", "IS4", "IS3", "IS2", "IS1", "space", "exclamation-mark", 
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ BOOST_REGEX_DECL const char* def_coll_names[] = {
 // little more - but this will have to do for
 // now:
 
-BOOST_REGEX_DECL const char* def_multi_coll[] = {
+BOOST_REGEX_DECL extern const char* const def_multi_coll[] = {
    "ae",
    "Ae",
    "AE",