Question

Sometimes I need to find out if an object will really be released. I could use Instruments of course, but that takes much time, and I have to search into millions of objects, so I used to do this:

-(void)release {
    NSLog(@"I'm released");
    [super release];
}

But the problem is: is this safe to do? Can I get any problems when I override -(void)release. Also, is it really void? And what if I build my application for distribution, but per accident leave it there? Or is it just safe? Thanks

Answer 1

It’s fine, but please restrict it for debugging only.

---

It’s not void, but oneway void.

-(oneway void)release {
    NSLog(@"I'm released"); // <-- remeber the @.
    [super release];
}

Note that if you only override this for NSObject, then the -release messages sent to “toll-free bridged containers” (e.g. NSCFArray, etc.) will be missed since they’ve also overridden -release to forward to CFRelease.