[Swig-user] Convert a reference return value into a deep copy

[Bob H. <bh...@co...>]

I have a situation where I have a global function that returns a
reference to a list of items:

      const ComponentList& current_selection(...);

This is being done for performance reasons.  However, it is a somewhat
dangerous action because a call to another function clear_selections()
will render the reference invalid.  While this is going to be
documented, I want to alter the way SWIG handles this so that users of
the scripting interface (Python) are less likely to shoot themselves in
the foot.  I would like to alter the way this is handled so that a deep
copy of the list is passed to the scripting language instead of a
volatile reference.

My question, then, is how should I approach this within SWIG to force a
deep copy, e.g.:

        ComponentList list = current_selection();

within the wrapper code?

I've read all the way through sections 5 and 6 of the documentation, but
encountered that might nothing to trip the lightbulb over my head.  Do I
need to completely override the wrapping for the current_selection()
function?