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C++ New Added 29 September 2026

C++: pure virtual method called, terminate called without an active exception

A pure virtual function was called through an object whose derived part does not exist at that moment. It almost always means a virtual call from a base class constructor or destructor, where the object is only the base type, or a call on an object that another thread has already started destroying. The second case makes it intermittent and hard to reproduce.

Quick fix

Read the commands before running them. Anything that restarts a service, deletes data or changes permissions should be tried on a non-production system first.

Quick fix
// Wrong: during ~Base the object is only a Base, so run() is pure
struct Base {
  virtual void run() = 0;
  ~Base() { stop(); }         // stop() calls run(): pure virtual call
};

// Fix: stop from the derived destructor, or before destruction
struct Worker : Base {
  ~Worker() override { stop(); }
};

// Threads: join before the object is destroyed
// worker_thread.join();  then let the object go out of scope

# Find the frame that made the call
gdb -ex run -ex bt --args ./app
# Or catch the destroyed-object case with ASan
g++ -g -fsanitize=address main.cpp -o app

How to diagnose C++ errors

C++ errors fall into two very different worlds. Compile and link errors (undefined reference, multiple definition, template substitution failure) are deterministic and are almost always about declarations, the One Definition Rule, or link order. Runtime memory errors (segfaults, double free, use-after-free) are non-deterministic and should never be debugged by reading code alone; a sanitizer will find in seconds what code review misses for days.

If the quick fix above does not resolve it, work through these steps. They apply to this whole class of error, not just to this one message, which is usually what saves the time.

  1. Rebuild with sanitizers before anything else: -fsanitize=address,undefined -fno-omit-frame-pointer -g. AddressSanitizer reports the exact allocation and free sites for use-after-free and double-free.
  2. For undefined-reference errors, check link order, remembering that with GNU ld libraries must come after the objects that use them, and check for a C/C++ linkage mismatch that needs extern "C".
  3. Use nm -C libfoo.a | grep symbol to confirm the symbol is actually present and to see the demangled signature. A signature that differs by a const is a different symbol.
  4. Enable core dumps (ulimit -c unlimited) and open them in gdb with gdb ./binary core, then bt full. A stack trace beats speculation.
  5. For template errors, read the message from the bottom up. The final line is usually the real constraint that failed; everything above is instantiation context.

Tools worth reaching for

  • -fsanitize=address,undefined
  • valgrind
  • gdb / lldb
  • nm -C
  • ldd

Authoritative references

Primary documentation for this error, worth reading before applying any fix in production.

en.cppreference.com en.cppreference.com

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