It seems to me that smart pointers could have the same semantics that plain pointers have (it's also the orientation taken by other smart pointers, like those in Glibmm). Here is my proposed patch against CVS HEAD: Index: boost/scoped_ptr.hpp =================================================================== --- boost/scoped_ptr.hpp.orig +++ boost/scoped_ptr.hpp @@ -101,6 +101,12 @@ return *this; } + scoped_ptr & operator=(T * rhs) + { + this_type(rhs).swap(*this); + return *this; + } + T * get() const // never throws { return ptr; Index: boost/shared_ptr.hpp =================================================================== --- boost/shared_ptr.hpp.orig +++ boost/shared_ptr.hpp @@ -246,6 +246,12 @@ #endif // BOOST_NO_SFINAE, BOOST_NO_TEMPLATE_PARTIAL_SPECIALIZATION + shared_ptr & operator=(T * r) + { + this_type(r).swap(*this); + return *this; + } + #endif // BOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR #if !defined(BOOST_MSVC) || (BOOST_MSVC >= 1300) Regards, Nowhere man -- nowhere.man@levallois.eu.org OpenPGP 0xD9D50D8A