that path unless you know what you are doing. If unsure,
proceed to @ref MSG_API instead.
-@section s4u_funct Offered functionalities
-
Unsurprisingly, the S4U interface matches the concepts presented in
-@ref starting_components "the introduction":
-
- - @ref s4u_actor
- - @ref s4u_host
-
- @{
+@ref starting_components "the introduction". You should read this page
+first, to not get lost in the amount of classes provided here. Or you
+could jump to the \ref s4u_examples directly if you prefer.
+
+@section s4u_raii Memory Management of S4U objects
+
+For sake of simplicity, we use
+[RAII](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_Acquisition_Is_Initialization)
+everywhere in S4U. This is an idiom where resources are automatically
+managed through the context. Provided that you never manipulate
+objects of type Foo directly but always FooPtr references (which are
+[boost::intrusive_ptr](http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_61_0/libs/smart_ptr/intrusive_ptr.html)<Foo>),
+you will never have to explicitely release the resource that you use
+nor to free the memory of unused objects.
+
+Here is a little example:
+
+@code{cpp}
+void myFunc()
+{
+ simgrid::s4u::MutexPtr mutex = simgrid::s4u::Mutex::createMutex(); // Too bad we cannot use `new` here
+
+ mutex->lock(); // use the mutex as a simple reference
+ // bla bla
+ mutex->unlock();
+
+} // The mutex will get automatically freed because the only existing reference gets out of scope
+@endcode
*/
-
-/** @defgroup s4u_actor Actors: simulation agents */
-/** @defgroup s4u_host Hosts: simulated machine on which the actors are located */
-
-/** @} */
-
- - \ref msg_simulation
- - \ref m_process_management
- - \ref m_host_management
- - \ref m_task_management
- - \ref msg_mailbox_management
- - @ref msg_file
- - \ref msg_task_usage
- - \ref msg_VMs
- - \ref msg_synchro
- - \ref msg_trace_driven
- - \ref MSG_examples
-
-@defgroup msg_simulation Main MSG simulation Functions
-@ingroup MSG_API
-@brief How to setup and control your simulation.
-
-The basic workflow is the following (check the \ref MSG_examples for
-details).
-
- -# Initialize the library with #MSG_init
- -# Create a platform (usually by parsing a file with
- #MSG_create_environment)
- -# Register the functions that your processes are supposed to run with
- #MSG_function_register (and maybe #MSG_function_register_default)
- -# Launch your processes from a deployment file with #MSG_launch_application
- -# Run the simulation with #MSG_main
-*
-
-** @defgroup m_process_management Process Management Functions
- * @ingroup MSG_API
- * @brief This section describes the process structure of MSG
- * (#msg_process_t) and the functions for managing it.
- */
-
-** @defgroup m_host_management Host Management Functions
- * @ingroup MSG_API
- * @brief Host structure of MSG
- *
-
-** @defgroup m_task_management Task Management Functions
- * @ingroup MSG_API
- * @brief Task structure of MSG (#msg_task_t) and associated functions. See
- * \ref msg_task_usage to see how to put the tasks in action.
- *
-
-** @defgroup msg_mailbox_management Mailbox Management Functions
- * @ingroup MSG_API
- * @brief Mailbox structure of MSG (#msg_mailbox_t) and associated functions.
- *
-
-** @defgroup msg_task_usage Task Actions
- * @ingroup MSG_API
- * @brief This section describes the functions that can be used
- * by a process to execute, communicate or otherwise handle some task.
- *
-
-** @defgroup msg_synchro Explicit Synchronization Functions
- * @ingroup MSG_API
- * @brief Explicit synchronization mechanisms: semaphores (#msg_sem_t) and friends.
- *
- * In some situations, these things are very helpful to synchronize processes without message exchanges.
- *
-
-** @defgroup msg_VMs VMs
- * @ingroup MSG_API
- * @brief Interface created to mimic IaaS clouds.
- *
- * With it, you can create virtual machines to put your processes
- * into, and interact directly with the VMs to manage groups of
- * processes.
- *
- * This interface is highly experimental at this point. Testing is
- * welcomed, but do not expect too much of it right now. Even the
- * interfaces may be changed in future releases of SimGrid (although
- * things are expected to stabilize nicely before SimGrid v3.8).
- * There is no guaranty on the rest of SimGrid, and there is less
- * than that on this part.
- *
- *
-
-** @defgroup msg_storage_management Storage Management Functions
- * @ingroup MSG_API
- * @brief Storage structure of MSG (#msg_storage_t) and associated functions, inspired from POSIX.
- *
-
-** @defgroup msg_file File Management Functions
- @ingroup MSG_API
- @brief MSG files (#msg_file_t) and associated functions, inspired from POSIX.
-*
-
-**
-@defgroup msg_trace_driven Trace-driven simulations
-@ingroup MSG_API
-@brief This section describes the functions allowing to build trace-driven simulations.
-
-This is very handy when you want to test an algorithm or protocol that
-does nothing unless it receives some events from outside. For example,
-a P2P protocol reacts to requests from the user, but does nothing if
-there is no such event.
-
-In such situations, SimGrid allows to write your protocol in your C
-file, and the events to react to in a separate text file. Declare a
-function handling each of the events that you want to accept in your
-trace files, register them using #xbt_replay_action_register in your main,
-and then use #MSG_action_trace_run to launch the simulation. You can
-either have one trace file containing all your events, or a file per
-simulated process.
-
-Check the examples in <b>examples/msg/actions/actions.c</b> for details.
-
- *
