diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index a60eafdc5..dbbb5a5ac 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -630,8 +630,27 @@ dnl ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 dnl Mandatory Libraries
 dnl ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+no_exceptions=yes
+
 AX_BOOST_BASE([1.46],, [AC_MSG_ERROR([Boost not found])])
 
+dnl Don't disable exceptions on Boost older than 1.54, because
+dnl Boost.Intrusive supports this compiler mode only since 1.54;
+dnl see https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/7849
+CPPFLAGS_SAVED="$CPPFLAGS"
+CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS $BOOST_CPPFLAGS"
+export CPPFLAGS
+AC_LANG_PUSH(C++)
+AC_COMPILE_IFELSE([AC_LANG_PROGRAM([[
+@%:@include <boost/version.hpp>
+]], [[
+#if BOOST_VERSION < 105400
+#error detected Boost older than 1.54
+#endif
+]])],, [no_exceptions=no])
+AC_LANG_POP([C++])
+CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS_SAVED"
+
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(icu,
 	AS_HELP_STRING([--enable-icu],
 		[enable libicu for Unicode (default: enabled)]),,
@@ -1726,8 +1745,12 @@ AC_LANG_PUSH([C++])
 AX_APPEND_COMPILE_FLAGS([-fvisibility=hidden])
 AX_APPEND_COMPILE_FLAGS([-fno-threadsafe-statics])
 AX_APPEND_COMPILE_FLAGS([-fmerge-all-constants])
-AX_APPEND_COMPILE_FLAGS([-fno-exceptions])
-AX_APPEND_COMPILE_FLAGS([-fno-rtti])
+
+if test x$no_exceptions = xyes; then
+	AX_APPEND_COMPILE_FLAGS([-fno-exceptions])
+	AX_APPEND_COMPILE_FLAGS([-fno-rtti])
+fi
+
 AX_APPEND_COMPILE_FLAGS([-ffast-math])
 AX_APPEND_COMPILE_FLAGS([-ftree-vectorize])
 AC_LANG_POP