"C++ exceptions are not checked at compile-time" are you sure about that [1][2], this is what throw() was deprecated for: [1]http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/

"C++ exceptions are not checked at compile-time" are you sure about that [1][2], this is what throw() was deprecated for: [1]http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/noexcept http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/noexcept [2]http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/noexcept_spec http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/noexcept_spec Unless I am mistaken, on 32bit platforms exceptions incur a runtime overhead but for 64bit zero cost exceptions were developed, and only incur overhead if they are triggered [3] [3] http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gnat_ugn_unw/Exception-Handling-Control.html http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gnat_ugn_unw/Exception-Handlin... I think that any calls to the C library can be handled as followed in an exception safe manner unless I misunderstand you: EDIT:( I misunderstood you, you meant wrapping resources, what follows is nonsense as a C library isn't going to throw any exception) void library_function_wrapper() { try { library_function(); } catch(...) { } }