Lars Iversen wrote:

I assume that the constructor for program_options::basic_command_line_parser (and function program_options::parse_command_line) in boost/boost/boost/program_options/parsers.hpp revision 1.11 could accept pointers to const char instead of non-const pointers?!

There's a problem. The standard says that the two-parameter 'main' has this prototype: int main(int ac, char* av[]) Note: there's no const there. If I make the above functions accept const parameters, users will have to do manual conversions. Try this: void do_it(const char* av[]) {} int main(int ac, char* av[]) { do_it(av); return 0; } It won't compile: argv.cpp:8: error: invalid conversion from `char**' to `const char**' Such convertion is now allowed without explicit cast because it can be used to break const-correctness in a very subtle way, and: - many users will be confused by this error - requiring manual cast for parsing argv is overkill I don't have better solution than using non-const argument to parse_command_line. Maybe, this should go to FAQ? - Volodya