Smart pointers with a library written in C

std::auto_ptr<cv_ptr> matrix(cv_ptr(cvCreateMat(320, 240, CV_32FC3)));
cvPow(matrix.get()->get()); // one get for the auto_ptr, one for the cv_ptr

class cv_auto_ptr {
public:
  cv_auto_ptr();
  ~cv_auto_ptr();

  // each method would just be a proxy for the smart pointer
  CvMat* get() { return this->matrix_.get()->get(); }
  // all the other operators/methods in auto_ptr would be the same, you get the idea

private:
  auto_ptr<cv_ptr> matrix_; // cv_ptr deletes CvMat properly
}

class Mat
{
    CvMat* impl;
    public:
        Mat(/* Constructor  Arguments */)
        {
            impl = cvCreateMat(/* BLAH */);
        }
        ~Mat()
        {
            cvReleaseMat(impl);
        }
        operator CvMat*()
        {   // Cast opertator. Convert your C++ wrapper object into C object
            // when you use it with all those C functions that come with the
            // library.

            return impl;
        }
};

void Plop(CvMat* x)
{   // Some C function dealing with CvMat
}

int main()
{                            // Don't need to dynamically allocate
    Mat                  m;  // Just create on the stack.
    Plop(m);                 // Call Plop directly

    std::auto_ptr<Mat>   mP(new Mat);
    Plop(*mP);
}

struct CvMatDeleter
{
    void operator( CvMat* p ) { cvReleaseMat( p ) ; }
};

void test()
{
    std::tr1::shared_ptr< CvMat > pMat( cvCreateMat(320, 240, CV_32FC3), CvMatDeleter() );
    // . . .
}

void f() {
    try {
        CvMat* mat = cvCreateMat(320, 240, CV_32FC3));
        // ...
    } catch(...) {
        cvReleaseMat(mat);
        throw;
    }
    cvReleaseMat(mat);
}

namespace cv {

class Mat {
public:
    enum Type { /* ... */ };
    Mat(int w, int h, Type type) {
        impl = cvCreateMat(w, h, intFromType(type));
    }

    ~Mat() {
        cvReleaseMat(impl);
    }

    void pow() { // wrap all operations
        cvPow(impl);
    }

private:
    CvMat* impl;
};

}