There is a bug in Boost.Python version 1.30 when compiled with GCC 3.2. This causes an error on compiling. It is a known problem, and due to the stricter typename checking in more recent GCC versions. The new Boost.Python version will contain a fix for this problem, but it might take some more months for this version to become available, and some distributions ( including Debian, not including Red Hat ( at this time, 22-9-2003, at least ) ). In the mean time, I have included a patch to the boost.python headers in the Kig distribution that fixes this problem. It is called boost-python1.30-gcc3.2.patch, and should be applied in the following way. Open a console window, and go to the directory containing the Boost.Python headers. This will most likely be called something like "/usr/include/boost/python/". Then execute the following commands ( before giving these commands, replace "/dir/to/kig/distribution/" by the directory where you put the downloaded kig distribution ): cd object patch make_ptr_instance.hpp < /dir/to/kig/distribution/boost-python1.30-gcc3.2.patch