My 2 cents, about source code... 1. In class boost::process::child. There is a type 'std::map<stream_id, handle>' that used several times. May be typedef? 2. In config.hpp file. Macros will be easier for maintenance if align backlslashes. Compare: #define BOOST_PROCESS_THROW_LAST_SYSTEM_ERROR(what) \ boost::throw_exception(boost::system::system_error( \ boost::system::error_code(BOOST_PROCESS_LAST_ERROR, \ boost::system::get_system_category()), \ BOOST_PROCESS_SOURCE_LOCATION what)) and #define BOOST_PROCESS_THROW_LAST_SYSTEM_ERROR(what) \ boost::throw_exception(boost::system::system_error( \ boost::system::error_code(BOOST_PROCESS_LAST_ERROR, \ boost::system::get_system_category()), \ BOOST_PROCESS_SOURCE_LOCATION what)) 3. In constructor of class boost::process::context. In this place you insert a values into map, but not search them. So use insert() instead of operator[]. Of course, with boost::assign ;-) using namespace boost::assign; insert( streams )( stdin_id, behavior::inherit(STDIN_FILENO) ) ( stdout_id, behavior::inherit(STDOUT_FILENO) ) ( stderr_id, behavior::inherit(STDERR_FILENO) ) ; 4. In some classes you use public inheritance from boost::noncopyable, but you can use private inheritance instead. 5. In constructors of some classes you forgot 'explicit'. 6. In function boost::process::self::get_environment(). environment e; // ... try { char *env = ms_environ; while (*env) { std::string s = env; std::string::size_type pos = s.find('='); e.insert(environment::value_type(s.substr(0, pos), s.substr(pos + 1))); env += s.size() + 1; } } catch (...) { // ... } And what kind of exceptions can occur here? std::string::find, std::string::substr, std::map::insert, std::string::operator+= std::string::size these functions do not throw exceptions... 7. In class boost::process::detail::basic_status_service. There is a type 'boost::unique_lock<boost::mutex>' that used many times. May be typedef? 8. In some places of code you using std::algorithms. You can use boost::range::algorithms instead, for simplicity. Compare: std::find(impls_.begin(), impls_.end(), impl); and: boost::range::find( impls_, impl ); 9. You can replace some 'native' cycles by BOOST_FOREACH. 10. You can initialize map easier: Compare: std::map<stream_id, handle> parent_ends; parent_ends[stdin_id] = handles[stdin_id].parent; parent_ends[stdout_id] = handles[stdout_id].parent; parent_ends[stderr_id] = handles[stderr_id].parent; and: using namespace boost::assign; std::map<stream_id, handle> parent_ends = map_list_of( stdin_id, handles[stdin_id].parent ) ( stdout_id, handles[stdout_id].parent ) ( stderr_id, handles[stderr_id].parent ) ; 11. In many places of code you using std::map. May be better to use boost::unordered_map, for optimizing the speed of searching? Best regards, Denis.