I have isolated the issue. Following code, compiled as a shared library, fails to compile on MinGW (and does on MSVC): #include <boost/archive/text_oarchive.hpp> struct Test { template<class Archive> void serialize(Archive& ar, const unsigned int) { ar & a; } void SerializeToFile(std::ostream& ostream) const { boost::archive::text_oarchive myar(ostream); myar & boost::serialization::make_nvp("test",this); } double a; }; It fails with mingw32-make[1]: Entering directory `C:/Flam/Local/Sourcefiles/Cpp/Trunk/build' cygwin warning: MS-DOS style path detected: C:\Flam\Local\Sourcefiles\Cpp\Trunk\build\Test.txt Preferred POSIX equivalent is: /cygdrive/c/Flam/Local/Sourcefiles/Cpp/Trunk/build/Test.txt CYGWIN environment variable option "nodosfilewarning" turns off this warning. Consult the user's guide for more details about POSIX paths: http://cygwin.com/cygwin-ug-net/using.html#using-pathnames g++ -shared -fPIC -o RDebug/Test.dll @"C:\Flam\Local\Sourcefiles\Cpp\Trunk\build\Test.txt" -L. -L/Sys/boost/MinGW32/boost_1_50_0/lib -lboost_serialization-mgw46-mt-d-1_50 -shared obj/RDebug/Test/Trunk_Test.o: In function `ZN5boost7archive21basic_text_oprimitiveISoE4saveEd': /Sys/boost/MinGW32/boost_1_50_0/include/boost-1_50/boost/archive/basic_text_oprimitive.hpp:140: undefined reference to `boost::archive::archive_exception::archive_exception(boost::archive::archive_exception::exception_code, char const*, char const*)' collect2: ld returned 1 exit status mingw32-make[1]: *** [RDebug/Test.dll] Error 1 Test.mk:71: recipe for target `RDebug/Test.dll' failed mingw32-make[1]: Leaving directory `C:/Flam/Local/Sourcefiles/Cpp/Trunk/build' mingw32-make.exe: *** [All] Error 2 MultiLiveEnv_wsp.mk:4: recipe for target `All' failed Any ideas? Can someone link this with MinGW? Thanks!