Hi, when I tried to compile your example (in libs/algorithm/string/example/), I got an error regarding the unavailability of the 'min' function. I don't add your library to my source tree, instead I modified the #include in the edit_distance_example.cpp; Here is my gcc -v output Using built-in specs. Target: i386-redhat-linux Configured with: ../configure --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --infodir=/usr/share/info --enable-shared --enable-threads=posix --enable-checking=release --with-system-zlib --enable-__cxa_atexit --disable-libunwind-exceptions --enable-libgcj-multifile --enable-languages=c,c++,objc,obj-c++,java,fortran,ada --enable-java-awt=gtk --disable-dssi --enable-plugin --with-java-home=/usr/lib/jvm/java- 1.4.2-gcj-1.4.2.0/jre --with-cpu=generic --host=i386-redhat-linux Thread model: posix gcc version 4.1.1 20070105 (Red Hat 4.1.1-51) I am not sure that it is either an error of your library or an error in how I used it ...However, I "solved" the problem by editing your header as follows: 1) insert at beginning #include <algorithm> 2) replace every reference to min with std::min Best regards, Manuel Fiorelli