Hey coderman,
   The structure you link to is local to only that static function.  It
   doesn't share the reference outside the function, to lead to the
   corruption you express concern around.  The class also has a member
   variable for use in a more ongoing way.
   Maybe it would be good to use an instance of the class in that static
   function to be more organised, though, or something.
   I mentioned the issue on the chat and got a couple recommendations for
   antivirus software.  I'm thinking if I could use an android emulator to
   bundle the issue up so it reproduces, I'm thinking it might help for
   giving something to an antivirus vendor.
   I'm not sure.  Sometimes I struggle to continue with projects and there
   are extensive delays (a number of years now for my volk pull request).
   This looks likely to be one of those times; we'll find out.
   On Fri, Feb 26, 2021, 12:14 PM coderman <[1]coderman@protonmail.com>
   wrote:

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     hello Karl!
     i haven't had time to dig into this much, but one thing stuck out to
     me
     in how you're using the FTDI content and functions.
     here you initialize the ftdi_content, but are using a local
     structure variable:
      [2]https://github.com/xloem/brainflow/blob/ecd1049f3a4146bd24a0b21f
     50b5267eb1d6190d/src/utils/libftdi_serial.cpp#L40
     once you return from  LibFTDISerial::is_libftdi () function, the
     ftdi_context will be destroyed.
     you'll notice that this context must live as long as the process,
     otherwise
     references to it will become invalid, leading to stack / heap
     corruption.
     for example, this usage calls from main(), where the ftdi_context
     will
     exist as long as the program is running:
      [3]https://github.com/punyal/Contiki_3-IPsec/blob/93130cd1123f36259
     4e915283dbf7f2783eeea43/platform/mulle/tools/scan_ftdi/scan_ftdi.c#L
     17
     you could solve this by declaring a static (global) ftdi_context,
     however,
      this entails locking / concurrency concerns.
     i hope this helps. perhaps later this weekend i dig in depth into
     your problems.
     best regards,
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References

   1. mailto:coderman@protonmail.com
   2. https://github.com/xloem/brainflow/blob/ecd1049f3a4146bd24a0b21f50b5267eb1d6190d/src/utils/libftdi_serial.cpp#L40
   3. https://github.com/punyal/Contiki_3-IPsec/blob/93130cd1123f362594e915283dbf7f2783eeea43/platform/mulle/tools/scan_ftdi/scan_ftdi.c#L17