Resolution:
One likely cause of getting a "breakpoint exception" is that the break on exception action is set to "Stop always" in MSVC++. The setting shows under the Debug-&gtExceptions dialog box (the 'Debug' menu is only visible while debugging).

These "Action" radio buttons on the upper right side govern when the debugger should stop for exceptions. The "Stop always" setting is used to stop on all exceptions, even if they're handled. Since the Repository C++ client uses exceptions to signal some common conditions, there are a number of thrown exceptions that are handled during startup. The radio button should be set to "Stop if not handled," that breaks execution only when exceptions are not handled.