Is there any problem with using shared_ptr and passing an instance of it to a function in another shared library, such as a DLL under Windows ? Does the reference count get updated correctly when the copy is passed to a DLL function, so that when the last shared_ptr in either the original module or the DLL goers out of scope, the actual pointer is correctly deleted ? If this is not the case, that shared_ptr works correctly across DLL boundaries in the manner described, does instantiating and exporting shared_ptr template instances from the DLL to the module using the DLL solve the problem ?