diff --git a/src/gtests_functions.cpp b/src/gtests_functions.cpp
index b31f0f989f..3c001e8e93 100644
--- a/src/gtests_functions.cpp
+++ b/src/gtests_functions.cpp
@@ -1195,5 +1195,14 @@ TEST ( functions, sphSplit )
 	ASSERT_STREQ ( dParts[1].cstr (), "a" );
 }
 
+// as we found g++ (GCC) 4.8.5 20150623 (Red Hat 4.8.5-28) works strange with curly initializer of refs
+TEST ( functions, curledref )
+{
+	CSphString sProof="abc";
+	const CSphString &sTest { sProof };
+	const CSphString &sTestc ( sProof );
+	ASSERT_TRUE ( &sProof==&sTestc ) << "curly brackets";
+	ASSERT_TRUE ( &sProof==&sTest ) << "figured brackets";
+}
 
 
diff --git a/src/searchdhttp.cpp b/src/searchdhttp.cpp
index 9156449e05..087c2c4f63 100644
--- a/src/searchdhttp.cpp
+++ b/src/searchdhttp.cpp
@@ -690,7 +690,7 @@ class HttpHandler_c
 {
 public:
 	HttpHandler_c ( const CSphString & sQuery, int iCID, bool bNeedHttpResponse )
-		: m_sQuery { sQuery }
+		: m_sQuery ( sQuery )
 		, m_iCID ( iCID )
 		, m_bNeedHttpResponse ( bNeedHttpResponse )
 	{}