Some exception hierarchies can not be modified to make boost::exception a base type. In this case, the enable_error_info function template can be used to make exception objects derive from boost::exception anyway. Here is an example:

#include <boost/exception/all.hpp>
#include <stdexcept>

typedef boost::error_info<struct tag_std_range_min,size_t> std_range_min;
typedef boost::error_info<struct tag_std_range_max,size_t> std_range_max;
typedef boost::error_info<struct tag_std_range_index,size_t> std_range_index;

template <class T>
class
my_container
    {
    public:

    size_t size() const;

    T const &
    operator[]( size_t i ) const
        {
        if( i > size() )
            throw boost::enable_error_info(std::range_error("Index out of range")) <<
                std_range_min(0) <<
                std_range_max(size()) <<
                std_range_index(i);
        //....
        }
    };

The call to enable_error_info<T> gets us an object of unspecified type which is guaranteed to derive from both boost::exception and T. This makes it possible to use operator<< to store additional information in the exception object. The exception can be intercepted as T &, so existing exception handling will not break. It can also be intercepted as boost::exception &, so that more information can be added to the exception at a later time.