Why do we need a pure virtual destructor in C++?

Question

1. Probably the real reason that pure virtual destructors are allowed is that to prohibit them would mean adding another rule to the language and there's no need for this rule since no ill-effects can come from allowing a pure virtual destructor.

2. Nope, plain old virtual is enough.

If you create an object with default implementations for its virtual methods and want to make it abstract without forcing anyone to override any specific method, you can make the destructor pure virtual. I don't see much point in it but it's possible.

Note that since the compiler will generate an implicit destructor for derived classes, if the class's author does not do so, any derived classes will not be abstract. Therefore having the pure virtual destructor in the base class will not make any difference for the derived classes. It will only make the base class abstract (thanks for @kappa's comment).

One may also assume that every deriving class would probably need to have specific clean-up code and use the pure virtual destructor as a reminder to write one but this seems contrived (and unenforced).

Note: The destructor is the only method that even if it is pure virtual has to have an implementation in order to instantiate derived classes (yes pure virtual functions can have implementations).

struct foo {
    virtual void bar() = 0;
};

void foo::bar() { /* default implementation */ }

class foof : public foo {
    void bar() { foo::bar(); } // have to explicitly call default implementation.
};

All you need for an abstract class is at least one pure virtual function. Any function will do; but as it happens, the destructor is something that any class will have—so it's always there as a candidate. Furthermore, making the destructor pure virtual (as opposed to just virtual) has no behavioral side effects other than to make the class abstract. As such, a lot of style guides recommend that the pure virtual destuctor be used consistently to indicate that a class is abstract—if for no other reason than it provides a consistent place someone reading the code can look to see if the class is abstract.

If you want to create an abstract base class:

• that can't be instantiated (yep, this is redundant with the term "abstract"!)
• but needs virtual destructor behavior (you intend to carry around pointers to the ABC rather than pointers to the derived types, and delete through them)
• but does not need any other virtual dispatch behavior for other methods (maybe there are no other methods? consider a simple protected "resource" container that needs a constructors/destructor/assignment but not much else)

...it's easiest to make the class abstract by making the destructor pure virtual and providing a definition (method body) for it.

For our hypothetical ABC:

You guarantee that it cannot be instantiated (even internal to the class itself, this is why private constructors may not be enough), you get the virtual behavior you want for the destructor, and you do not have to find and tag another method that doesn't need virtual dispatch as "virtual".

From the answers I have read to your question, I couldn't deduce a good reason to actually use a pure virtual destructor. For example, the following reason doesn't convince me at all:

Probably the real reason that pure virtual destructors are allowed is that to prohibit them would mean adding another rule to the language and there's no need for this rule since no ill-effects can come from allowing a pure virtual destructor.

In my opinion, pure virtual destructors can be useful. For example, assume you have two classes myClassA and myClassB in your code, and that myClassB inherits from myClassA. For the reasons mentioned by Scott Meyers in his book "More Effective C++", Item 33 "Making non-leaf classes abstract", it is better practice to actually create an abstract class myAbstractClass from which myClassA and myClassB inherit. This provides better abstraction and prevents some problems arising with, for example, object copies.

In the abstraction process (of creating class myAbstractClass), it can be that no method of myClassA or myClassB is a good candidate for being a pure virtual method (which is a prerequisite for myAbstractClass to be abstract). In this case, you define the abstract class's destructor pure virtual.

Hereafter a concrete example from some code I have myself written. I have two classes, Numerics/PhysicsParams which share common properties. I therefore let them inherit from the abstract class IParams. In this case, I had absolutely no method at hand that could be purely virtual. The setParameter method, for example, must have the same body for every subclass. The only choice that I have had was to make IParams' destructor pure virtual.

struct IParams
{
    IParams(const ModelConfiguration& aModelConf);
    virtual ~IParams() = 0;

    void setParameter(const N_Configuration::Parameter& aParam);

    std::map<std::string, std::string> m_Parameters;
};

struct NumericsParams : IParams
{
    NumericsParams(const ModelConfiguration& aNumericsConf);
    virtual ~NumericsParams();

    double dt() const;
    double ti() const;
    double tf() const;
};

struct PhysicsParams : IParams
{
    PhysicsParams(const N_Configuration::ModelConfiguration& aPhysicsConf);
    virtual ~PhysicsParams();

    double g()     const; 
    double rho_i() const; 
    double rho_w() const; 
};

Here I want to tell when we need virtual destructor and when we need pure virtual destructor

class Base
{
public:
    Base();
    virtual ~Base() = 0; // Pure virtual, now no one can create the Base Object directly 
};

Base::Base() { cout << "Base Constructor" << endl; }
Base::~Base() { cout << "Base Destructor" << endl; }


class Derived : public Base
{
public:
    Derived();
    ~Derived();
};

Derived::Derived() { cout << "Derived Constructor" << endl; }
Derived::~Derived() {   cout << "Derived Destructor" << endl; }


int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
    Base* pBase = new Derived();
    delete pBase;

    Base* pBase2 = new Base(); // Error 1   error C2259: 'Base' : cannot instantiate abstract class
}

1. When you want that no one should be able to create the object of Base class directly, use pure virtual destructor virtual ~Base() = 0. Usually at-least one pure virtual function is required, let's take virtual ~Base() = 0, as this function.

2. When you do not need above thing, only you need the safe destruction of Derived class object

   Base* pBase = new Derived(); delete pBase; pure virtual destructor is not required, only virtual destructor will do the job.