XercesDOMParser scoped instantiation causes segfault - c++

Question

I have just come across a strange behavior of the Xerces-C library which I do not understand. The following code, which has already been seen in loads of examples, works for me:
#include <iostream>
#include <xercesc/util/PlatformUtils.hpp>
#include <xercesc/parsers/XercesDOMParser.hpp>
using namespace std;
using namespace xercesc;
int main (int argc, char* argv[])
{
try {
XMLPlatformUtils::Initialize ();
XercesDOMParser* parser = new XercesDOMParser ();
// here one might want to add some useful operations
delete parser;
XMLPlatformUtils::Terminate ();
}
catch (...) {
cout << "caught some exception" << endl;
}
return 0;
}
Surely, this code does not do many meaningful things. But it runs and in particular terminates cleanly.
Now, I was trying to avoid the new/delete and switch to a scoped object, like so:
#include <iostream>
#include <xercesc/util/PlatformUtils.hpp>
#include <xercesc/parsers/XercesDOMParser.hpp>
using namespace std;
using namespace xercesc;
int main (int argc, char* argv[])
{
try {
XMLPlatformUtils::Initialize ();
XercesDOMParser parser;
// here one might want to add some useful operations
XMLPlatformUtils::Terminate ();
}
catch (XMLException& exc) {
cout << "caught an XMLException" << endl;
}
catch (...) {
cout << "caught an exception" << endl;
}
return 0;
}
This or similar code has also been seen many times. However, when I run it, it creates a segfault after (?) XMLPlatformUtils::Terminate() (that's at least, what my debugger is suggesting). Still, I have successfully worked with a parser object created in that way. And if I omit the call to Terminate(), I see my process terminate cleanly.
Does anyone have a clue what I am doing wrong here?

Answer 1

Paul's comment already gave the correct answer and his explanation why does make sense. So for completeness, here is the code that actually works (note the explicitly created inner scope):
#include <iostream>
#include <xercesc/util/PlatformUtils.hpp>
#include <xercesc/parsers/XercesDOMParser.hpp>
using namespace std;
using namespace xercesc;
int main (int argc, char* argv[])
{
try {
XMLPlatformUtils::Initialize ();
{
XercesDOMParser parser;
// here one might want to add some useful operations
}
XMLPlatformUtils::Terminate ();
}
catch (XMLException& exc) {
cout << "caught an XMLException" << endl;
}
catch (...) {
cout << "caught an exception" << endl;
}
return 0;
}
Thank you Paul!