performance problem in regex

[fulvio_esposito1981 at libero.it]

Hi all,
I've got some performance hit using regex in libc on freebsd 6.3. I've 
done some test whit the patterns that l7-filter [http://l7-filter.sf.net] use 
to recognize level 7 internet protocol. For example, with the skypeout pattern, 
regexec() takes more tha 0.1 sec to do its work. Is this a know problem?
Thanks 
in advance,
Fulvio Esposito