boost::shared_ptr templated constructor?

From: Lehrer, Joshua (boost_at_[hidden])
Date: 2003-05-03 13:22:58

WRT boost::shared_ptr<>, why not template the explicit constructor 
that takes a T*?  This way, it could select the correct destructor 
at construction time:

struct base { ~base(); };
struct sub : public base { ~sub() };
boost::shared_ptr<base>(new sub);

The above code currently only calls ~base();  Templating the 
explicit single argument constructor would allow the above code to 
call ~sub().

The constructor now takes only a T*, and therefore populates the 
pointer to the destructor function with a call to ~T(), which is 
~base() in the above example.

If, however, the constructor took an X*, the above example would 
pass a sub*, and it could populate the default destructor function 
with a pointer to ~X().

Comments?

Joshua Lehrer
FactSet Research Systems
NYSE:FDS