Yes, which is why Zig can't have RAII. Zig initialisation and destruction are fundamentally different to how RAII works in other languages. That's not a negative point; it's just how Zig is. But it's not RAII.

You are right. It seems the developer agrees and has changed the README

It's explicit opt in RAII, you opt in by using a defer.

RAII, which stands for Resource Acquisition Is Initialization, is a programming technique in which a resource's lifetime is tied to an object's lifespan. An explicit defer does not fit this paradigm.

free is an explicit opt-in garbage collector.