Memory leak problem

[Jeff Franks <jcf tpg com au>]

Hi,

I'm having problems with a memory leak. While working with GdkPixbufs I 
noticed when I called gtk_window_set_default_icon_list to set a default 
window icon the internal
default_icon_list does not release its reference at program termination 
but it does when a new list is set. I posted a bug report in bugzilla 
with the following reply:

We never release resources that last the life of the program (the operating system does it just fine).

This is where I'm confused. Does the operating system release a program's allocated memory when it terminates. I'm working with C++ and rely on a GTK object's final g_object_unref()call to call a destroy_notify function which deletes the GTK object's C++ wrapper. I've found that since the GdkPixbuf's are not released delete is never called. 

Is this a memory leak or does the operating system release the allocated memory even though delete is not called. 

Jeff.