// my_class_serialization.cpp or my_class.cpp or .. *.cpp #include <boost/archive/xml_iarchive.hpp> .... // all archives you might whant to use here. template<class Archive> serialize(Archive &ar, my_class &t....){ ... serialization for class my_class } #include "my_class.hpp" // explict instantiation here for all the archives which interest me template void serialize<boost::archive::xml_iarchive, my_class>; ... // explicit instantiation for all other archives you might use here. I notice you still include the archive headers in my_class_serialization.cpp. In that case, you do not have in fact to manually instantiate templates, since my_class_serialization.cpp includes "my_class.hpp" which includes export.hpp and maybe BOOST_CLASS_EXPORT after the archive headers included in class_serialization.cpp, so template instantiation will occure anyway. Anyway let's close this topic. I understood what the point was. Jean-Noël