<!-- ##### SECTION Title ##### -->Reference Counting and Memory Mangement<!-- ##### SECTION Short_Description ##### -->Functions for reference counting and memory management on pixbufs.<!-- ##### SECTION Long_Description ##### -->  <para>    #GdkPixbuf structures are reference counted.  This means that an    application can share a single pixbuf among many parts of the    code.  When a piece of the program needs to keep a pointer to a    pixbuf, it should add a reference to it by calling g_object_ref().    When it no longer needs the pixbuf, it should subtract a reference    by calling g_object_unref().  The pixbuf will be destroyed when    its reference count drops to zero.  Newly-created #GdkPixbuf    structures start with a reference count of one.  </para>  <note>    <para>      As #GdkPixbuf is derived from #GObject now, gdk_pixbuf_ref() and      gdk_pixbuf_unref() are deprecated in favour of g_object_ref()      and g_object_unref () resp.    </para>  </note>  <para>    <emphasis>Finalizing</emphasis> a pixbuf means to free its pixel    data and to free the #GdkPixbuf structure itself.  Most of the    library functions that create #GdkPixbuf structures create the    pixel data by themselves and define the way it should be freed;    you do not need to worry about those.  The only function that lets    you specify how to free the pixel data is    gdk_pixbuf_new_from_data().  Since you pass it a pre-allocated    pixel buffer, you must also specify a way to free that data.  This    is done with a function of type #GdkPixbufDestroyNotify.  When a    pixbuf created with gdk_pixbuf_new_from_data() is finalized, your    destroy notification function will be called, and it is its    responsibility to free the pixel array.  </para><!-- ##### SECTION See_Also ##### -->  <para>    #GdkPixbuf, gdk_pixbuf_new_from_data().  </para><!-- ##### SECTION Stability_Level ##### --><!-- ##### FUNCTION gdk_pixbuf_ref ##### -->  <para>  </para>@pixbuf: @Returns: <!-- ##### FUNCTION gdk_pixbuf_unref ##### --><para></para>@pixbuf: <!-- ##### USER_FUNCTION GdkPixbufDestroyNotify ##### -->  <para>    A function of this type is responsible for freeing the pixel array    of a pixbuf.  The gdk_pixbuf_new_from_data() function lets you    pass in a pre-allocated pixel array so that a pixbuf can be    created from it; in this case you will need to pass in a function    of #GdkPixbufDestroyNotify so that the pixel data can be freed    when the pixbuf is finalized.  </para>@pixels: The pixel array of the pixbuf that is being finalized.@data: User closure data.