--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/util-src/managed_pointer.h	Fri Jul 01 15:11:08 2022 +0100
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+/* managed_pointer.h
+
+These macros allow wrapping an allocator/deallocator into an object that is
+owned and managed by the Lua garbage collector.
+
+Why? It is too easy to leak objects that need to be manually released, especially
+when dealing with the Lua API which can throw errors from many operations.
+
+USAGE
+-----
+
+For example, given an object that can be created or released with the following
+functions:
+
+  fancy_buffer* new_buffer();
+  void free_buffer(fancy_buffer* p_buffer)
+
+You could declare a managed version like so:
+
+  MANAGED_POINTER_ALLOCATOR(new_managed_buffer, fancy_buffer*, new_buffer, free_buffer)
+
+And then, when you need to create a new fancy_buffer in your code:
+
+  fancy_buffer *my_buffer = new_managed_buffer(L);
+
+NOTES
+-----
+
+Managed objects MUST NOT be freed manually. They will automatically be
+freed during the next GC sweep after your function exits (even if via an error).
+
+The managed object is pushed onto the stack, but should generally be ignored,
+but you'll need to bear this in mind when creating managed pointers in the
+middle of a sequence of stack operations.
+*/
+
+#define MANAGED_POINTER_MT(wrapped_type) #wrapped_type "_managedptr_mt"
+
+#define MANAGED_POINTER_ALLOCATOR(name, wrapped_type, wrapped_alloc, wrapped_free) \
+  static int _release_ ## name(lua_State *L) {                                \
+  	wrapped_type *p = (wrapped_type*)lua_topointer(L, 1);                 \
+  	if(*p != NULL) {                                                      \
+	  	wrapped_free(*p);                                             \
+	}                                                                     \
+  	return 0;                                                             \
+  }                                                                           \
+  static wrapped_type name(lua_State *L) {                                    \
+  	wrapped_type *p = (wrapped_type*)lua_newuserdata(L, sizeof(wrapped_type)); \
+  	if(luaL_newmetatable(L, MANAGED_POINTER_MT(wrapped_type)) != 0) {     \
+  		lua_pushcfunction(L, _release_ ## name);                      \
+  		lua_setfield(L, -2, "__gc");                                  \
+  	}                                                                     \
+  	lua_setmetatable(L, -2);                                              \
+  	*p = wrapped_alloc();                                                 \
+  	if(*p == NULL) {                                                      \
+  		lua_pushliteral(L, "not enough memory");                      \
+  		lua_error(L);                                                 \
+  	}                                                                     \
+  	return *p;                                                            \
+  }
+