Yes that's the point, its inlined wherever the shared pointer template is instantiated for the type. Being a template it has to work that way.
Actually not. Some compilers do link-time instantiation.
My reply was poorly worded. Of course the compiler may choose to generate function calls for an instantiated type and could do so for both the executable and dynamically loaded dll in my simple example. Fine. My point is that even if that were the case it doesn't hurt my simple smart pointer alternative because the function pointers that might exist in the factory are not carried over into the executable and therefore would pose no problem The only way function pointers could be carried over would be via a VTABLE which does not exist here. So, if the compiler chose to create a function call rather that straight inlining it still works because in the exe it calls the exe created function which does the right thing. There is no call back into the dynamic dll function as would be the case for a generated VTABLE. I will have to think some more on the claims that there is no way to support custom allocators and deleters without a VTABLE. I agree completely that these are essential features. Need to learn some more on how exactly these are implemented and why a VTABLE would be essential.