Use 'response' instead of 'response*' and rely on NRVO. Errors in url_handler are signalled as exceptions and returned as status code 500 internal_server_error to client.

test_webserver.cc

@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ int main()
 
     std::cout << "adding handler for http://127.0.0.1:8080/handler/sample\n";
     web.add_url_handler("/handler/(?<name>\\w+)",
-        [](boost::cmatch m, const pEp::Webserver::request& req)->pEp::Webserver::response* {
-            pEp::Webserver::response *res = new pEp::Webserver::response{pEp::http::status::ok, req.version()};
+        [](boost::cmatch m, const pEp::Webserver::request& req)->pEp::Webserver::response {
+            auto res = pEp::Webserver::response{pEp::http::status::ok, req.version()};
 
 // https://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_73_0/libs/beast/doc/html/beast/ref/boost__beast__http__response.html
 

webserver.cc

@@ -178,13 +178,12 @@ void Webserver::do_session(tcp::socket *socket)
                 Webserver::handler_t handler = find_handler(req, m);
 
                 if (handler) {
-                    Webserver::response *res = handler(m, req);
-                    if (res) {
-                        http::write(*socket, *res, ec);
-                        delete res;
+                    try{
+                        const Webserver::response res = handler(m, req);
+                        http::write(*socket, res, ec);
                     }
-                    else {
-                        deliver_status(socket, req, http::status::not_found);
+                    catch(...){
+                        deliver_status(socket, req, http::status::internal_server_error);
                     }
                 }
                 else {

webserver.hh

@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ namespace pEp {
             typedef boost::regex url_t;
             typedef http::request< http::string_body > request;
             typedef http::response< http::string_body > response;
-            typedef std::function< response*(boost::cmatch, const request&) > handler_t;
+            typedef std::function< response(boost::cmatch, const request&) > handler_t;
 
         private: 
             struct Handling {