Why is "error: invalid application of 'sizeof' to an incomplete type using unique_ptr" fixed by adding an empty destructor?
If we go to the cppreference document for std::unique_ptr
:
std::unique_ptr
may be constructed for an incomplete typeT
, such as to facilitate the use as a handle in the Pimpl idiom. If the default deleter is used,T
must be complete at the point in code where the deleter is invoked, which happens in the destructor, move assignment operator, and reset member function ofstd::unique_ptr
. (Conversely,std::shared_ptr
can't be constructed from a raw pointer to incomplete type, but can be destroyed whereT
is incomplete).
We can see in the below code:
#include <memory>
class STFT; // pimpl off to prevent point name clash
class Whatever
{
public:
~Whatever() ;
private:
std::unique_ptr<STFT> stft;
} ;
//class STFT{};
Whatever::~Whatever() {}
int main(){}
The requirements are not fulfilled when the defintion of STFT
is commented before the destructor of Whatever
is defined since this requires the destructor for stft
which in turn requires STFT
to be complete.
So it seems likely that in your implementation file STFT
is complete when Whatever::~Whatever()
is defined but otherwise the defaulted one is created without the STFT
being complete.
My usual idiom for providing such destructors is
Whatever::~Whatever() = default;
The important thing is that it needs to be somewhere where the pointed-to type(s) are complete.