diff --git a/include/nana/filesystem/filesystem_ext.hpp b/include/nana/filesystem/filesystem_ext.hpp
index 2c28acad..2ff6bece 100644
--- a/include/nana/filesystem/filesystem_ext.hpp
+++ b/include/nana/filesystem/filesystem_ext.hpp
@@ -34,6 +34,16 @@ namespace filesystem_ext
  
 std::experimental::filesystem::path path_user();    ///< extention ?
 
+/// workaround Boost not having path.generic_u8string() - a good point for http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2016/p0251r0.pdf
+inline std::string generic_u8string(const std::experimental::filesystem::path& p) 
+{ 
+  #if NANA_USING_BOOST_FILESYSTEM
+	 return nana::to_utf8(p.generic_wstring());
+  #else
+	 return p.generic_u8string();
+  #endif
+}
+
 inline bool is_directory(const std::experimental::filesystem::directory_entry& dir) noexcept
 {
     return is_directory(dir.status());