diff --git a/src/core/ActionWithArguments.cpp b/src/core/ActionWithArguments.cpp
index b6f7ee03a263db0ff8aea30c2572f343d94ad1bb..5caaadca5ca361220f5538ad6c799c5a263abc10 100644
--- a/src/core/ActionWithArguments.cpp
+++ b/src/core/ActionWithArguments.cpp
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 #include <iostream>
 #ifdef __PLUMED_HAS_CREGEX
 #include <cstring>
-#include "regex.h"
+#include <regex.h>
 #endif
 
 using namespace std;
diff --git a/src/gridtools/FourierTransform.cpp b/src/gridtools/FourierTransform.cpp
index de836de7a111fa684f809932d7b8be223d9b8643..31b268951e0385d5a5e53b6d7db8125fa63f6198 100644
--- a/src/gridtools/FourierTransform.cpp
+++ b/src/gridtools/FourierTransform.cpp
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 #include "ActionWithInputGrid.h"
 #include "core/ActionRegister.h"
 #ifdef __PLUMED_HAS_FFTW
-#include "fftw3.h" // FFTW interface
+#include <fftw3.h> // FFTW interface
 #endif
 
 namespace PLMD {
diff --git a/src/maketools/plumedcheck b/src/maketools/plumedcheck
index 6d442b6b5fb7de3f8369a50777655e4fbff3776b..2ba30ca0ea292ab0c8392a325957ef4ddff0de5d 100755
--- a/src/maketools/plumedcheck
+++ b/src/maketools/plumedcheck
@@ -278,6 +278,10 @@ BEGINFILE{
 # DOC: E.g., use `#include <cstdlib>` instead of `#include <stdlib.h>`. Notice that
 # DOC: using the modern header all the functions are declared inside the `std` namespace.
       if(h in deprecated_headers) error("deprecated_header","including deprecated header " h);
+# DOC: :unsupported_header_regex:
+# DOC: Header `<regex>`, although part of the C++11 standard, is not supported by gcc 4.8.
+# DOC: In order to allow compatibility with old compilers, this header should not be used.
+      if(h == "regex") error("unsupported_header_regex","including unsupported header " h);
 # DOC: :external_header: (style)
 # DOC: Header files should possibly not include other header files from external libraries.
 # DOC: Indeed, once PLUMED is installed, if paths are not set correctly the include files of the other libraries