Dr Jekyll wrote:

Hi, I use a library, which itself use Boost. This library define

#define Handle boost::shared_ptr

Ugh.

But because I intende to use WINAPI , this definition results in a conflict

c:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Vc7\PlatformSDK\Include\WinUser.h(3282): error C2751: 'boost::shared_ptr' : the name of a function parameter cannot be qualified <snip> What should I do, if I have to keep the #define line in my library...

Don't use that library. Its code quality is so low that you will probably waste more time working around its bugs then you can save by using it. If you disagree with this assessment, perhaps you could write and use a wrapper header that does something like: #ifndef LIBRARY_WRAPPER_H #define LIBRARY_WRAPPER_H #include "library.h" #undef Handle // undefine any other unwanted macros #endif // !defined(LIBRARY_WRAPPER_H)