I told you that already. You don't need pointers (since you're using a factory function to create the instance, you'll need one pointer, but the other uses don't have to be pointers).
void function1(FtInterface & fti) { function2(fti); }
int main() { std::auto_ptr<FtInterface> fti(ftGetIfFromFactor(...)); function1(*fti); }
Thank you for this. Question tho: when function1 is in a different .cpp file than main(), I would still have to declare FtInterface in that .cpp file, right?
The bottom line is that your problems stem not from boost::shared_ptr usage but from fundamental misunderstandings of how C++ works. The Boost Users List or comp.lang.c++.moderated are better places to handle such questions. It also appears that you need to find a good tutorial on C++ to help you understand things better.
As I pointed out when I started this thread, I'm not very experienced and have been using about 6 different (online) tutorials about C++. Thank you for your help. H.