Singleton Destructors

Question

Should Singleton objects that don\'t use instance/reference counters be considered memory leaks in C++?

Without a counter that calls for explicit deletion of the singlet

Answer 1

Depends on your definition of a leak. Unbound memory increase is a leak in my book, a singleton isn't unbound. If you don't provide reference counting, you intentionally keep the instance alive. Not an accident, not a leak.

Your singleton wrapper's destructor should delete the instance, it is not automatic. If it just allocates memory and no OS resources, there's no point.