Consider this following simple app:

#include <boost/thread/thread.hpp>

#include <boost/asio.hpp>

#include <boost/thread/recursive_mutex.hpp>

int main() {

                return 0;

}

If you try to build that on Windows, you receive the following error:

In file included from c:/mingw/lib/gcc/../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/include/boost/thread/win32/recursive_mutex.hpp:14:0,

                 from c:/mingw/lib/gcc/../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/include/boost/thread/recursive_mutex.hpp:14,

                 from build.cpp:3:

c:/mingw/lib/gcc/../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/include/boost/thread/win32/basic_recursive_mutex.hpp: In member function 'void boost::detail::basic_recursive_mutex_impl<underlying_mutex_type>::lock()':

c:/mingw/lib/gcc/../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/include/boost/thread/win32/basic_recursive_mutex.hpp:52:21: error: '_InterlockedExchange' is not a member of 'boost::detail'

c:/mingw/lib/gcc/../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/include/boost/thread/win32/basic_recursive_mutex.hpp: In member function 'void boost::detail::basic_recursive_mutex_impl<underlying_mutex_type>::unlock()':

c:/mingw/lib/gcc/../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/include/boost/thread/win32/basic_recursive_mutex.hpp:71:21: error: '_InterlockedExchange' is not a member of 'boost::detail'

c:/mingw/lib/gcc/../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/include/boost/thread/win32/basic_recursive_mutex.hpp: In member function 'bool boost::detail::basic_recursive_mutex_impl<underlying_mutex_type>::try_basic_lock(long int)':

c:/mingw/lib/gcc/../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/include/boost/thread/win32/basic_recursive_mutex.hpp:91:21: error: '_InterlockedExchange' is not a member of 'boost::detail'

c:/mingw/lib/gcc/../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/include/boost/thread/win32/basic_recursive_mutex.hpp: In member function 'bool boost::detail::basic_recursive_mutex_impl<underlying_mutex_type>::try_timed_lock(long int, const boost::system_time&)':

c:/mingw/lib/gcc/../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/include/boost/thread/win32/basic_recursive_mutex.hpp:102:21: error: '_InterlockedExchange' is not a member of 'boost::detail'

If asio.hpp is moved ahead of the thread headers, the error goes away.  We’ve been trying to dictate #include order to work around this problem, but it keeps cropping up.