diff --git a/include/boost/regex/config.hpp b/include/boost/regex/config.hpp
index f0af80e7..e05a904b 100644
--- a/include/boost/regex/config.hpp
+++ b/include/boost/regex/config.hpp
@@ -438,6 +438,12 @@ void raise_error(const traits& t, unsigned code)
  *
  ****************************************************************************/
 
+#ifndef BOOST_REGEX_NON_RECURSIVE
+// non-recursive mode is currently too fragile to
+// auto-select, this will be removed before release:
+#  define BOOST_REGEX_RECURSIVE
+#endif
+
 #if !defined(BOOST_REGEX_RECURSIVE) && !defined(BOOST_REGEX_NON_RECURSIVE)
 #  ifdef BOOST_REGEX_HAS_MS_STACK_GUARD
 #     define BOOST_REGEX_RECURSIVE