Re: STL objects and binary compatibility
osama178@gmail.com wrote in news:06aeb05a-483c-4503-b190-
81c4bb4c711b@u6g2000prc.googlegroups.com:
further reading are greatly appreciated.
It sounds like you're a little confused.
Binary compatablity usually is associated with a context.
If you build with different versions of the STL or with various options
that render binary incompatibility, then this is your choice.
Please elaborate what you're really concerned about.
Sorry my question was not very clear. In other words, can STL Objects
cross DLL boundaries. For example. Can we pass STL objects between
different binaries by reference safely?
Yes, no, maybe. Since you use the term DLL, I will assume that you are
talking windows. The problems you can have under windows have to do with
memory allocation. If you pass a collection to a dll and it adds an object
to it and if that addition causes the collection to allocate memory, then
since it is using code compiled into the dll, it will allocate memory from
the dll's heap and return it to the main program. This can cause problems
with memory accounting when the collection is later freed. Especially if
the dll is unloaded before the collection is destroyed. This effect can be
reduced if you use the DLL version of the crt for all dlls and the exe.
This is because the memory for everything then comes from the crt dll
rather than the individual dll/exe. Along those same lines, if you plan on
unloading your dlls make very sure that every object allocated from that
dll has been destroyed first or you will get a fault when you eventually do
get around to destroying those objects. Something about the destructors
not being loaded into memory any more makes the system get upset. :)
HTH,
joe