I have been experimenting with the boost serialization library. It seems to do what I need. I am using Boost_1_33_1 and Microsoft’s VC8 compiler. When I create a simple little program, I’m getting a lot of compiler warnings even at the /w3 level. Could compiler switches or installation configuration be the problem? #include "stdafx.h" #include <iostream> #include <vector> #include <string> #include <sstream> #include #include typedef std::vectorstd::wstring VCT_WSTR; struct Foo { VCT_WSTR vws; private: // Take care of serializing the class friend class boost::serialization::access; template< class Archive > void serialize( Archive &ar, unsigned int ver ); }; BOOST_CLASS_VERSION ( Foo, 1 ) template< class Archive > void Foo::serialize( Archive &ar, unsigned int /* ver */ ) { ar & vws; } // text archive void Test1( const Foo &foo ) { unsigned int flags = boost::archive::no_header | boost::archive::no_codecvt | boost::archive::no_xml_tag_checking; std::wstringstream wos; boost::archive::text_woarchive oa(wos,flags); oa & foo; std::wcout << L"Foo is " << wos.str() << L"\n"; wos.str(L""); // reset the output stream oa & foo; std::wcout << L"Foo is " << wos.str() << L"\n"; } int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[]) { argc; argv; // Set up some recognizable values Foo foo; for( size_t i=0; i < 5; ++i ) foo.vws.push_back( L"Big String for vws" ); Test1( foo ); return 0; } Compiler options are: /O2 /I "D:\Boost_1_33_1" /D "WIN32" /D "NDEBUG" /D "_CONSOLE" /D "_SCL_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE" /D "_UNICODE" /D "UNICODE" /FD /EHsc /MD /Yu"stdafx.h" /Fp"Release\Test.pch" /Fo"Release\\" /Fd"Release\vc80.pdb" /W4 /nologo /c /Wp64 /Zi /TP /errorReport:prompt Sample of Warnings (at /w4) ------ Build started: Project: Test, Configuration: Release Win32 ------ Compiling... Test.cpp D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/io/ios_state.hpp(52) : warning C4512: 'boost::io::ios_flags_saver' : assignment operator could not be generated D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/io/ios_state.hpp(32) : see declaration of 'boost::io::ios_flags_saver' D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/io/ios_state.hpp(75) : warning C4512: 'boost::io::ios_precision_saver' : assignment operator could not be generated D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/io/ios_state.hpp(55) : see declaration of 'boost::io::ios_precision_saver' D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/io/ios_state.hpp(98) : warning C4512: 'boost::io::ios_width_saver' : assignment operator could not be generated D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/io/ios_state.hpp(78) : see declaration of 'boost::io::ios_width_saver' D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/io/ios_state.hpp(275) : warning C4512: 'boost::io::ios_iword_saver' : assignment operator could not be generated D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/io/ios_state.hpp(253) : see declaration of 'boost::io::ios_iword_saver' D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/io/ios_state.hpp(300) : warning C4512: 'boost::io::ios_pword_saver' : assignment operator could not be generated D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/io/ios_state.hpp(278) : see declaration of 'boost::io::ios_pword_saver' D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/io/ios_state.hpp(330) : warning C4512: 'boost::io::ios_base_all_saver' : assignment operator could not be generated D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/io/ios_state.hpp(306) : see declaration of 'boost::io::ios_base_all_saver' D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/io/ios_state.hpp(406) : warning C4512: 'boost::io::ios_all_word_saver' : assignment operator could not be generated D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/io/ios_state.hpp(382) : see declaration of 'boost::io::ios_all_word_saver' D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/serialization/void_cast.hpp(127) : warning C4512: 'boost::serialization::void_cast_detail::void_caster' : assignment operator could not be generated D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/serialization/void_cast.hpp(91) : see declaration of 'boost::serialization::void_cast_detail::void_caster' D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/io/ios_state.hpp(246) : warning C4512: 'boost::io::basic_ios_locale_saver<Ch>' : assignment operator could not be generated with [ Ch=wchar_t ] D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/archive/basic_text_oprimitive.hpp(75) : see reference to class template instantiation 'boost::io::basic_ios_locale_saver<Ch>' being compiled with [ Ch=wchar_t ] D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/archive/text_woarchive.hpp(45) : see reference to class template instantiation 'boost::archive::basic_text_oprimitive<OStream>' being compiled with [ OStream=std::wostream ] D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/archive/text_woarchive.hpp(99) : see reference to class template instantiation 'boost::archive::text_woarchive_impl<Archive>' being compiled D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/archive/detail/oserializer.hpp(118) : warning C4100: 'flags' : unreferenced formal parameter D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/archive/detail/oserializer.hpp(118) : while compiling class template member function 'bool boost::archive::detail::oserializer::tracking(const unsigned int) const' with [ Archive=boost::archive::text_woarchive, T=Foo ] D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/archive/detail/oserializer.hpp(264) : see reference to class template instantiation 'boost::archive::detail::oserializer' being compiled with [ Archive=boost::archive::text_woarchive, T=Foo ] D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/archive/detail/oserializer.hpp(263) : while compiling class template member function 'void boost::archive::detail::save_non_pointer_type::save_standard::invoke(Archive &,const Foo &)' with [ Archive=boost::archive::text_woarchive, T=Foo ] D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/archive/detail/oserializer.hpp(322) : see reference to class template instantiation 'boost::archive::detail::save_non_pointer_type::save_standard' being compiled with [ Archive=boost::archive::text_woarchive, T=Foo ] D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/archive/detail/oserializer.hpp(310) : while compiling class template member function 'void boost::archive::detail::save_non_pointer_type::invoke(Archive &,const Foo &)' with [ Archive=boost::archive::text_woarchive, T=Foo ] D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/archive/detail/oserializer.hpp(536) : see reference to class template instantiation 'boost::archive::detail::save_non_pointer_type' being compiled with [ Archive=boost::archive::text_woarchive, T=Foo ] D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/archive/basic_text_oarchive.hpp(78) : see reference to function template instantiation 'void boost::archive::save(Archive &,const T &)' being compiled with [ Archive=boost::archive::text_woarchive, T=const Foo ] D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/archive/detail/interface_oarchive.hpp(78) : see reference to function template instantiation 'void boost::archive::basic_text_oarchive<Archive>::save_override<T>(T &,int)' being compiled with [ Archive=boost::archive::text_woarchive, T=const Foo ] D:\Boost_1_33_1\boost/archive/detail/interface_oarchive.hpp(86) : see reference to function template instantiation 'Archive &boost::archive::detail::interface_oarchive<Archive>::operator <<<T>(T &)' being compiled with [ Archive=boost::archive::text_woarchive, T=const Foo ] .\Test.cpp(60) : see reference to function template instantiation 'Archive &boost::archive::detail::interface_oarchive<Archive>::operator &<const Foo>(T &)' being compiled with [ Archive=boost::archive::text_woarchive, T=const Foo ]