Following a suggestion from another thread, I have tried broadcasting in a polymorphic way. I have a hierarchy of polymorphic struct (they have 2 virtual functions). I was wondering if it was possible/allowed to root process: base* b; /// b points to an actual derived struct but may also point the base struct (not abstract) broadcast( ..., b, ...); slave processes: base* b; broadcast( ..., b, ...); /// broadcast constructs the appropriate struct and makes b point to where it did that assuming all the conditions for pointer to class conditions are satisfied for the serialization library. Otherwise, perhaps a solution with a boost::variant over the base struct and all of its derived is the way to go? Thanks,