diff --git a/codecs/gsm/Makefile b/codecs/gsm/Makefile
index 43110f314a..36bde07a91 100644
--- a/codecs/gsm/Makefile
+++ b/codecs/gsm/Makefile
@@ -37,6 +37,14 @@ WAV49	= -DWAV49
 ######### ppro's, etc, as well as the AMD K6 and K7.  The compile will
 ######### probably require gcc. 
 
+# Due to the gsm codec beeing broken when compiled with gcc version 4.2
+# and optimization higher than -O2 we are checking for that version and
+# set the optimization to -O2 in this case.
+
+ifeq ($(shell $(CC) -v 2>&1 | awk '/^gcc version/ { split($$3, v, "."); printf "%s.%s\n", v[1], v[2]; }' ),4.2)
+OPTIMIZE=-O2
+endif
+
 ifeq (,$(findstring $(shell uname -s),Darwin SunOS))
   ifeq (,$(findstring $(PROC),x86_64 amd64 ultrasparc sparc64 arm armv5b armeb hppa2.0 ppc powerpc ppc64 ia64 s390 bfin mipsel mips))
     ifeq (,$(findstring $(shell uname -m),ppc ppc64 alpha armv4l s390))