Hi The Traits classes for basic_path provided in the filesystem library (path_traits and wpath_traits) are good enough to be used as default values for basic_path in most cases. However, since they are independent structs, they can not be used to instantiate a basic_path with a single String template parameter. I would like to write: typedef basic_string<char> string_t; typedef fs::basic_path<string_t, fs::basic_path_traits<string_t> > path_t; Currently we are forced to write in our code something as: template <typename String> struct path_traits {}; template <> struct path_traits<std::string> { typedef boost::filesystem::path_traits traits_t; }; template <> struct path_traits<std::wstring> { typedef boost::filesystem::wpath_traits traits_t; }; typedef std::basic_string<CharT> string_t; typedef boost::filesystem::basic_path<string_t, typename path_traits<string_t>::traits_t > path_t; I underestand it is important to emphasize that Traits classes have nothing to do with String classes in path instantiations, so my question is: Is it reasonable to ask that path traits classes provided in the library would be implemented as template specializations instead of separate classes? Thanks in advance. Best regards Jorge