Finding Memory Leaks in Legacy C++ Applications with Valgrind

Legacy C++ services don't crash — they slowly bleed memory until someone restarts them at 3 AM. If you've inherited a 20‑year‑old codebase with mysterious memory growth, this guide is for you. You can't fix a leak if you can't reproduce. This is your complete, production‑focused Valgrind investigation playbook. It's based on real systems, real leaks, and real debugging pain. Table of Contents The Workflow Step 1 — Reproduce the Leak Step 2 — Static Analysis Step 3 — Compile for Valgrind Step 4 —