Re: [Boost-users] [python] Extending: Understanding ownership of pointers

From: Robert Dailey (rcdailey_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-03-24 15:27:47

On Fri, Mar 21, 2008 at 11:32 AM, Robert Dailey <rcdailey_at_[hidden]> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I had a bit of trouble deciding which mailing list to post this question
> (Python or boost). I decided to post it here since the way I'm extending is
> boost-specific, however the fundamental question is in regards to how Python
> internally handles ownership. I do not feel there is a perfect location for
> this question, so I hope you'll forgive the semi-off topicness of the
> question.
>
> Right now I'm exposing a function to Python that returns a pointer to a
> custom object owned by a third party library. In most cases I can manage to
> use boost::shared_ptr when I'm returning pointers, however since this is a
> third party library I cannot do this. Since the pointer I'm returning is
> owned and managed by another object, I gave my def() the following return
> policy:
>
> return_value_policy<reference_existing_object>()
>
> I simply assumed this was correct. How does Python handle the pointer to
> this object? Is there some documents in either boost or the python
> documentation that I can read to understand a little more about how Python
> handles object ownership when the Python objects really represent C++
> pointers? Perhaps someone could give me a brief rundown on the concept.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>

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