Hello Old New Leaky Friend
Developers that extensively use interfaces in Delphi probably know about a long-standing issue with the compiler, where interface parameters declared as const or [ref] will cause a memory leak if a reference-counted object instance is constructed directly at the call site. Illustration: Sandra Prasnikar Specifically, the following code would create a leak: procedure LeakTest(const Intf: IInterface); begin end; procedure Run; begin LeakTest(TInterfacedObject.Create); end; begin ReportMemoryLeaksOnShutdown := True; Run; end. The problem arises because the compiler does not create a hidden interface reference that would properly initialize the reference counting mechanism and keep the object instance alive during the call. In other words, such an object would never be assigned to a strong interface reference. Because const and [ref] parameters don't trigger reference counting, if there is no other code within the called routine, the object instance will never b