I am using Boost 1.33.0 with MinGW on Windows XP. I am using the following program_optins code to collect command line arguments: po::options_description desc("Options"); desc.add_options() ...[everyting defined in here works as advertised]... ;//add-options() // specify the single, required graph file positional parameter po::positional_options_description pd; pd.add("graph_file", 1); po::variables_map vm; po::store(parse_command_line(argc, argv, desc), vm); po::notify(vm); ... The above code is shamelessly lifted from the tutorial. Everything defined in desc.add_options() works including the "-h" alternative to "--help". However, two things fail. * vm.count("graph_file") returns 0 regardless of whether there are positional argument(s). * specifying an -x, --xx, --xx=n option where "x" or "xx" is not included in desc.add_options() causes store() to not return (the program simply stops). Am I missing something? Merrill