A library I'm considering uses Boost for a few basic containers (small_vector, bimap, etc). Because of Boost's non-modular design (every header includes most other headers), build times are ridiculous. I removed the Boost dependency and implemented equivalents to all required containers in less than 120 lines in standard C++ each, which was trivial and very quick. * Lib build times are down from 3 minutes to 7 seconds. * Lib package is down from 800 MB to 0.5 MB. * Lib no longer interferes with other modules' requirements. * Lib is easier to install, debug, customize and maintain. I understand that always avoiding all dependencies shouldn't be a goal. But I'm still bewildered by the opposite mindset of bloating everything, especially for cases like this library design where the pros to cons are really one sided, and doing it right was actually less work than doing it wrong.