diff --git a/src/lib/format-string.hpp b/src/lib/format-string.hpp
index 53d3d278e..c164aa400 100644
--- a/src/lib/format-string.hpp
+++ b/src/lib/format-string.hpp
@@ -45,10 +45,10 @@
 #ifndef UTIL_FORMAT_STRING_H
 #define UTIL_FORMAT_STRING_H
 
-//#include "lib/meta/trait.hpp"
 //#include "lib/symbol.hpp"
 //#include "lib/util.hpp"
 #include "lib/error.hpp"
+#include "lib/meta/size-trait.hpp"
 
 #include <string>
 //#include <cstring>
@@ -89,12 +89,14 @@ namespace util {
   class _Fmt
     : boost::noncopyable
     {
-      enum{ FORMATTER_SIZE = 100 };
-
+      /** size of an internal implementation Buffer */
+      enum{ FORMATTER_SIZE = lib::meta::SizeTrait::BOOST_FORMAT };
       
       
+      /** @internal buffer to hold a boost::format */
       char formatter_[FORMATTER_SIZE];
       
+      
       template<typename VAL, class SEL =void>
       struct Converter;
       
diff --git a/src/lib/meta/size-trait.hpp b/src/lib/meta/size-trait.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7d615d55a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/meta/size-trait.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,144 @@
+/*
+  SIZE-TRAIT.hpp  -  helpers and definitions to deal with the size of some known types
+
+  Copyright (C)         Lumiera.org
+    2011,               Hermann Vosseler <Ichthyostega@web.de>
+
+  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+  modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
+  published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of
+  the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+
+  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+  GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+  Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
+
+*/
+
+
+#ifndef LIB_META_SIZE_TRAIT_H
+#define LIB_META_SIZE_TRAIT_H
+
+
+
+#include <vector>
+#include <string>
+
+
+namespace lib {
+namespace meta {
+  
+  
+  /** 
+   * A collection of constants to describe the expected size
+   * of some known classes, without needing to include the
+   * respective headers. This is an optimisation to improve
+   * compilation times and/or reduce size of the generated
+   * object files in debug mode. To get those sizes computed
+   * in a fairly portable way, but without much overhead,
+   * we mimic the memory layout of "the real thing"
+   * with some reasonable simplifications:
+   * - the size of vectors doesn't really depend on the elements
+   * - our strings, streams and buffers use just simple chars
+   * 
+   * \par Interface
+   * The purpose of this whole construction is to pull off
+   * some constants based on sizeof expressions:
+   * - the size of a string
+   * - the size of a vector
+   * - the size of a boost::format
+   * 
+   * @warning this setup is quite fragile and directly relies
+   *          on the implementation layout of the GNU STL and Boost.
+   *          Whenever using this stuff, make sure to place an assertion
+   *          somewhere down in the implementation level to check against
+   *          the size of the real thing.
+   */
+  class SizeTrait
+    { 
+      //-------------------------------------mimicked-definitions--
+      
+      typedef std::vector<size_t> Vector;
+      
+      struct CompatAllocator
+        : std::allocator<char>
+        { };
+      
+      struct Locale
+        {
+          void* _M_impl;
+        };
+      
+      template<class T>
+      struct Optional
+        {
+          bool m_initialized_;
+          T    m_storage_;
+        };
+      
+      enum IOS_Openmode 
+        { 
+          _S_app        = 1L << 0,
+          _S_ate        = 1L << 1,
+          _S_bin        = 1L << 2,
+          _S_in         = 1L << 3,
+          _S_out        = 1L << 4,
+          _S_trunc      = 1L << 5,
+          _S_ios_openmode_end = 1L << 16 
+        };      
+      
+      struct BasicStringbuf
+        {
+          char * _M_in_beg;
+          char * _M_in_cur;
+          char * _M_in_end;
+          char * _M_out_beg;
+          char * _M_out_cur;
+          char * _M_out_end;
+          
+          Locale _M_buf_locale;
+        };
+      
+      struct BasicAltstringbuf
+        : BasicStringbuf
+        {
+          char *         putend_;
+          bool     is_allocated_;
+          IOS_Openmode     mode_;
+          CompatAllocator alloc_;
+        };
+      
+      struct BoostFormat
+        {
+          Vector items_;
+          Vector bound_;
+          int    style_;
+          int    cur_arg_;
+          int    num_args_;
+          bool   dumped_;
+          std::string   prefix_;
+          unsigned char exceptions;
+          BasicAltstringbuf buf_;
+          Optional<Locale> loc_;
+        };
+      //-------------------------------------mimicked-definitions--
+      
+      
+    public:/* ===== Interface: size constants ===== */ 
+      
+      enum {
+             STRING          = sizeof(std::string)
+           , VECTOR          = sizeof(std::vector<size_t>)
+           
+           , BOOST_FORMAT    = sizeof(BoostFormat)
+           };
+    };
+  
+  
+}} // namespace lib::meta
+#endif