static pointer memory leaks

Question

I have the following code:

#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#endif
	static SomeClass* SomeClass_instance = NULL;
	void PrepareInstance()
	{
		if (NULL == SomeClass_instance)
		{
			SomeClass_instance = new SomeClass;
		}
	}
	void SomeClass_someMethod(const int id)
	{
		PrepareInstance();
		SomeClass_instance->SomeClass_someMethod(id);
	}
#ifdef __cplusplus
}
#endif

How can I solve memory leaks (SomeClass_instance) using C++98 only? I mean, without smart pointers ...

Basically this code is a C++ to C bridge, for an very old code.

Answer 1

You can use a function (e.g., DeleteInstance) that destroys the SomeClass object.

The client code would call DeleteInstance when it is finished using the functions that invoke SomeClass object methods.

I suggest you make PrepareInstance a required initialization function without embedding its use in other functions. The other functions like SomeClass_method can check for a valid SomeClass_instance pointer and return an error if it has not been initialized.