Smart pointer question

Question

I'm rewriting my code with smart pointer. I have such situation:

void Foo(SomeClass *p) { }
boost::shared_ptr<SomeClass> p(new SomeClass);

Now what to do: pass original pointer from wrapper (p.get()) or rewrite function argument and pass smart pointer directly like:

void Foo(boost::shared_ptr<Foo> obj) { }

I'm not sure. As I understand smart pointers should follow some pointer and look whether it still need in program. So we can pass original pointer.

Answer 1

Unless Foo needs to take (shared) ownership of *p you should keep the signature the same and just pass p.get(). It's the simplest and most flexible option as well as requiring the least change to your existing code.