Hi Everyone- This has been discussed before (http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.lib.boost.devel/180008), but I think my question is along a slightly different line so I thought I would ask about it. Let's say I want to compile and distribute a library (without the source), and I happen to use some boost header-only libraries as an implementation detail in some of my functions. None of the headers associated with my library include boost headers; it's purely an internal detail. Now, it seems to me that users of my library will still have to be aware of the fact that I used boost in my implementation -- specifically, if they happen to use different versions of the same boost libraries in their code, then the ODR is violated and the behavior is undefined. I realize this isn't a boost-specific problem (it would affect any library of template functions), but I am wondering if there is a boost-specific solution already worked out? Has anyone thought about this? It seems to me that in this case, what would be ideal would be if I could do: #define BOOST_NAMESPACE some_unique_namespace_for_boost #include "boost/algorithm/string.hpp" BOOST_NAMESPACE::shared_ptr<void> x; //or whatever Then I can insure there are no ODR violations and I don't need to bother users of my library with the fact that I used boost at all. Other than the sheer annoyance of having to go through all the boost code to use this macro, is there a strong downside to this approach? Alternatively, I could try: namespace { #include "boost/..." } But I don't know, could this work? Or are there boost headers that rely on fully qualified references like ::boost::algorithm::whatever? I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts on this issue, thanks! -Lewis