diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index af3545c..cf519d1 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 
 
-CXXFLAGS=-std=c++17 -O0 -g -pg -no-pie -pipe -MMD -Wall -Wextra
+CXXFLAGS=-std=c++17 -O0 -g -no-pie -pipe -MMD -Wall -Wextra
 RELEASE_CXXFLAGS=-std=c++17 -O3 -pipe -MMD -Wall -Wextra
-LDFLAGS=-lsqlite3 -lpthread -lcrypto -lstdc++fs
+LDFLAGS=-lsqlite3 -lpthread -lcrypto -lboost_regex -lstdc++fs
 
 #currently default g++ versions in most distros do not usually support c++17 well enough
 CXX=g++-8.2.0
diff --git a/parser.cpp b/parser.cpp
index cd278ed..ffc0b46 100644
--- a/parser.cpp
+++ b/parser.cpp
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ SOFTWARE.
 #include "parser.h"
 #include "utils.h"
 #include "htmllink.h"
-
 std::vector<Headline> Parser::extractHeadlines(std::string content) const
 {
 	std::vector<Headline> result;
@@ -82,7 +81,7 @@ std::string Parser::extractCommand(std::string cmdname, std::string content) con
 	}
 	return "";
 }
-std::string Parser::processLink(const PageDao &pageDao, UrlProvider &urlProvider, std::smatch &match) const
+std::string Parser::processLink(const PageDao &pageDao, UrlProvider &urlProvider, boost::smatch &match) const
 {
 	std::string linktag = match.str(1);
 	std::string inside = match.str(2);
@@ -121,8 +120,8 @@ std::string Parser::parse(const PageDao &pagedao, UrlProvider &provider, std::st
 {
 	std::string result;
 	// we don't care about commands, but we nevertheless replace them with empty strings
-	std::regex tagfinder(R"(\[(b|i|u|li||ul|ol|link|wikilink|h\d|cmd:rename|cmd:redirect)*?\]((\s|\S)*?)\[/\1])");
-	result = utils::regex_callback_replacer(tagfinder, content, [&](std::smatch &match) {
+	boost::regex tagfinder(R"(\[(b|i|u|li||ul|ol|link|wikilink|h\d|cmd:rename|cmd:redirect)*?\]((\s|\S)*?)\[/\1])");
+	result = utils::regex_callback_replacer(tagfinder, content, [&](boost::smatch &match) {
 		std::string tag = match.str(1);
 		std::string content = match.str(2);
 		std::string justreplace[] = {"b", "i", "u", "ul", "li", "ol"};
diff --git a/parser.h b/parser.h
index a4c91e5..13cee1f 100644
--- a/parser.h
+++ b/parser.h
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 #ifndef PARSER_H
 #define PARSER_H
-#include <regex>
+#include <boost/regex.hpp>
 #include "iparser.h"
 
 class Parser : public IParser
 {
   private:
-	std::string processLink(const PageDao &pageDao, UrlProvider &urlProvider, std::smatch &match) const;
+	std::string processLink(const PageDao &pageDao, UrlProvider &urlProvider, boost::smatch &match) const;
 
   public:
 	std::string extractCommand(std::string cmdname, std::string content) const;
diff --git a/utils.cpp b/utils.cpp
index 7114e29..a574387 100644
--- a/utils.cpp
+++ b/utils.cpp
@@ -24,8 +24,10 @@ SOFTWARE.
 #include <map>
 #include <cstdlib>
 #include <fstream>
+#include <boost/regex.hpp>
 #include "logger.h"
 #include "utils.h"
+
 // TODO: instead of returning vector maybe provide an iterator version too.
 
 // TODO: % may not be necessary (was in C version just to be sure against format string attacks
@@ -133,16 +135,16 @@ std::string utils::readCompleteFile(std::string_view filepath)
 	return content;
 }
 
-std::string utils::regex_callback_replacer(std::regex regex, const std::string &input,
-										   std::function<std::string(std::smatch &)> callback)
+std::string utils::regex_callback_replacer(boost::regex regex, const std::string &input,
+										   std::function<std::string(boost::smatch &)> callback)
 {
 	std::string result;
-	auto tagsbegin = std::sregex_iterator(input.begin(), input.end(), regex);
-	auto tagsend = std::sregex_iterator();
+	auto tagsbegin = boost::sregex_iterator(input.begin(), input.end(), regex);
+	auto tagsend = boost::sregex_iterator();
 	auto matchbegin = 0;
-	for(std::sregex_iterator i = tagsbegin; i != tagsend; ++i)
+	for(boost::sregex_iterator i = tagsbegin; i != tagsend; ++i)
 	{
-		std::smatch match = *i;
+		boost::smatch match = *i;
 
 		auto matchlength = match.length(0);
 		auto matchpos = match.position();
diff --git a/utils.h b/utils.h
index fee00be..01229f6 100644
--- a/utils.h
+++ b/utils.h
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #include <map>
 #include <regex>
 #include <ctime>
+#include <boost/regex.hpp>
 namespace utils
 {
 
@@ -57,8 +58,8 @@ template <class T, class U> std::vector<U> getAll(std::multimap<T, U> map, T key
 	return result;
 }
 
-std::string regex_callback_replacer(std::regex regex, const std::string &input,
-									std::function<std::string(std::smatch &)> callback);
+std::string regex_callback_replacer(boost::regex regex, const std::string &input,
+									std::function<std::string(boost::smatch &)> callback);
 
 std::string readCompleteFile(std::string_view filepath);