[clang] [NFC] [API Notes] [Documentation] Add documentation for SwiftReturnOwnership (PR #143545)
Egor Zhdan via cfe-commits
cfe-commits at lists.llvm.org
Tue Jun 10 08:07:57 PDT 2025
================
@@ -195,6 +195,52 @@ declaration kind), all of which are optional:
SwiftReleaseOp: immortal
SwiftRetainOp: immortal
+:SwiftReturnOwnership:
+
+ Specifies the ownership convention of a function or method returning a C++ type
+ that has been imported as a Swift reference type using ``SwiftImportAs: reference``.
+ This allows Swift to correctly manage the retain and release operations at the
+ language boundary.
+
+ The possible values are:
+
+ - ``retained`` — Indicates that the function or method returns a +1 reference.
+ Swift will take ownership and is responsible for releasing it.
+ Equivalent to ``SWIFT_RETURNS_RETAINED``.
+ - ``unretained`` — Indicates that the function or method returns a +0 reference.
+ The caller must ensure the returned object remains alive.
+ Equivalent to ``SWIFT_RETURNS_UNRETAINED``.
+
+ This attribute can be applied to:
+
+ - **C++ functions**
+ - **C++ instance or static methods**
+ - **Objective-C / Objective-C++ methods or functions that return a C++ reference type**
+
+ When omitted, the default behavior is that Swift assumes the function returns an
+ ```unretained``` (```+0```) reference unless the function or API has ``create`` or ``copy`` string in their name.
+ Use ``SwiftReturnOwnership`` to override this and
+ ensure proper memory management when interoperating with Swift's ARC.
----------------
egorzhdan wrote:
I'm not sure if this is the right place for this part of documentation, since this is really about Swift and not API Notes. But I don't have a strong opinion on this.
https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/143545
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