Re: Proposal: Ref Counting Conventions

[Miguel de Icaza <miguel helixcode com>]

> FWIW, according "Inside Com" by Dale Rogerson, the rule is to 
> unref the inout out parameter before changing it. (Chapter 4,
> referred to as "The In-Out Paramter Rule", page 82 in my copy).
> 
> I'll quote...
> 
> A function must call Release on an interface pointer passes via an
> in-out parameter before overwriting the in parameter with another
> interface pointer. The function must also call AddRef on the out
> paramter before returning to the caller.
> 
> I leave to greater minds to decide if that is wise or not :) I'm just
> trying to get up to speed on bonobo. 

I agree on the AddRef part, I dont on the other one.  But my Microsoft
documentation has no reference to this in-out convention.

Miguel