b) use BOOST_STRONG_TYPE to make an integer type that is tracked.
Okay. The code snippet you gave me worked great. However, I am now experiencing what I hope is the final problem. Basically, I have a recursive data structure A, which contains pointers of type boost::smart_pointer<A>. Could you please show me how to get the follow code snippet to work? I should say that I'm really appreciative for all your help. -------- #include <iostream> #include <fstream> #include <boost/shared_ptr.hpp> #include <boost/archive/text_oarchive.hpp> #include <boost/archive/text_iarchive.hpp> #include <boost/serialization/base_object.hpp> #include <boost/serialization/utility.hpp> #include <boost/serialization/shared_ptr.hpp> #include <boost/serialization/tracking.hpp> #include <boost/strong_typedef.hpp> class A; BOOST_STRONG_TYPEDEF(boost::shared_ptr<A>, Aptr) class A { public: friend class boost::serialization::access; template<class Archive> void serialize(Archive& ar, const unsigned int version) { ar & aptr; } private: Aptr aptr; }; template <class Archive> void serialize(Archive &ar, Aptr &aptr, const unsigned int version) { ar & static_cast<boost::shared_ptr<A> >(aptr); } int main() { std::ofstream ofs("archive"); boost::archive::text_oarchive oa(ofs); A a; oa << a; Aptr aptr; oa << aptr; return 0; } -------- Thanks! Joseph -- http://www.cs.nyu.edu/~turian/