On Fri, 2019-09-13 at 22:08 +0530, Tushar Maheshwari wrote: > Hi, > > I am a C++ developer and a modern-C++ enthusiast. In the interest of > modernizing the codebase, I propose using smart pointers to handle > dynamically allocated memory. I would like to get the feedback from > the developers if this change is planned/attempted/desirable or > inapplicable for CMake. > > Currently, in the master branch (limiting to the Source directory): > - delete expression appears 127 times (2 of those are false > positives). > $ grep -Er 'delete(\[\])? \S+;' Source | wc -l > 127 > - cmDeleteAll function (a helper to delete a Range of objects) is > used 40 times. > $ grep -Er 'cmDeleteAll\(.+\);' Source | wc -l > 40 > - [Skipping the `free` stats. I can investigate that if required.] > > Many of these are great candidates for `std::unique_ptr`. This can > reduce the destructors of many classes to default, and in some cases > achieve the rule of zero. This aligns well with the "Resource > management" section of the CppCoreGuidelines. > However, it might be impractical to replace some occurrences, like > the > interfaces with C libraries. > > I have pushed some sample commits to > https://gitlab.kitware.com/tusharpm/cmake/commits/smart_mem. > > One drawback I noticed while changing some members to use smart > pointers is the boilerplate required to expose them to the callers. > There might be a cleaner way than passing references to smart > pointers. I would like to discuss those options also, if possible. > > If this is something I can pursue, I would appreciate a review of my > changes to better suit the project.
We have already made lots of progress in replacing manual delete's with std::unique_ptr's, and completing this modernization has been a goal of ours since we switched to C++11. I would very strongly encourage you to open a merge request with any progress you've made in this regard. Kyle -- Powered by www.kitware.com Please keep messages on-topic and check the CMake FAQ at: http://www.cmake.org/Wiki/CMake_FAQ Kitware offers various services to support the CMake community. For more information on each offering, please visit: CMake Support: http://cmake.org/cmake/help/support.html CMake Consulting: http://cmake.org/cmake/help/consulting.html CMake Training Courses: http://cmake.org/cmake/help/training.html Visit other Kitware open-source projects at http://www.kitware.com/opensource/opensource.html Follow this link to subscribe/unsubscribe: https://cmake.org/mailman/listinfo/cmake-developers
