Question

Suppose I use

pthread_mutex_t *m = new pthread_mutex_t;
pthread_mutex_init(m, NULL);

to initialize a mutex. Then after I’m done, and invoke pthread_mutex_destroy, do I need to use

delete m;

to release all resources?

Answer 1

You need to free the memory, as pthread_mutex_destroy can’t do it for you.

Why doesn’t pthread_mutex_destroy free the memory for you ? Because you are allowed to do this:

pthread_mutex_t m;
pthread_mutex_init(&m, NULL);

pthread_mutex_destroy(&m); /* Can't free &m. */

You can try it using valgrind:

==836== LEAK SUMMARY:
==836==    definitely lost: 24 bytes in 1 blocks