[cairo] cairo_current_xxx, reference or not?

[Ned Konz]

On Thursday 04 November 2004 9:52 am, David Reveman wrote:
> With the recent font changes, cairo_current_font returns a cairo_font_t
> object that needs to be destroyed. This is different from before and
> different from what cairo_current_pattern and
> cairo_current_target_surface are doing. If this is the intended
> behavior, cairo_current_pattern and cairo_current_target_surface should
> probably be modified to return a references instead of just pointers.
> It's a bit confusing right now.

I'd be in favor of having a simple rule: whenever there's a function that 
*returns* a pointer to a managed (reference-counted) type, you *always* have 
to destroy it.

So cairo_current_target_surface()  and cairo_current_pattern() should both 
increment the reference count of their return values, as cairo_current_font() 
does.

That way, there's never a question about ownership, and it's easier to do 
bindings (I know, it's a selfish reason). Also it prevents memory leaks or 
premature freeing in cases where the internal structure is replaced by 
another.

-- 
Ned Konz
http://bike-nomad.com/squeak/