It would be useful to be able to rename or alias methods in the g-i output.

Telepathy uses the same naming convention as GVariant/GValue, in which "get" means "don't copy" and "dup" means "copy", so we often get this situation:

* TpThing is an object

* tp_thing_dup_stuff() returns a copy of, or new ref to, a TpStuff

* tp_thing_get_stuff() doesn't exist, because we newly construct
  the TpStuff object on-demand, or because we want to be
  able to be thread-safe later, or whatever

It would be useful for Python/JS users to be able to call Thing.get_stuff() anyway, since they shouldn't need to care about the distinction between "borrow" and "copy" C semantics.

I tried to use "Rename to: tp_thing_get_stuff", but that annotation doesn't work (issues a warning and is ignored) when tp_thing_get_stuff doesn't exist. (Example diff and warning below.)

14:33 < walters> so...yeah the original use case for rename-to wasn't this, but 
                 we could probably make it work relatively easily
14:33 < smcv> walters: probably what we really want tbh is "Copy to"
14:34 < walters> right
14:34 < smcv> or /** tp_connection_dup_detailed_error: (introspect-as 
              get_detailed_error)
14:34 < smcv> or something
14:35 < smcv> g-i users shouldn't have to care about whether a function copies 
              its argument or not, but at the same time we like to make it 
              obvious for C users
14:36 < walters> the problem with rename-to is that it reveals our total lack 
                 of generated documentation that would help one understand 
                 "where did this C function go"
14:36 < walters> copy-to doesn't have that issue as much

-----

diff --git a/telepathy-glib/connection.c b/telepathy-glib/connection.c
index 53cb4b3..464f920 100644
--- a/telepathy-glib/connection.c
+++ b/telepathy-glib/connection.c
@@ -2880,6 +2880,8 @@ tp_connection_get_detailed_error (TpConnection *self,
  * Returns: (transfer full) (allow-none): a D-Bus error name, or %NULL.
  *
  * Since: 0.19.UNRELEASED
+ *
+ * Rename to: tp_connection_get_detailed_error_vardict
  */
 gchar *
 tp_connection_dup_detailed_error_vardict (TpConnection *self,


  GISCAN TelepathyGLib-1.gir
/home/smcv/src/fdo/tpglib/telepathy-glib/connection.h:175: Warning: TelepathyGLib: Can't find symbol 'tp_connection_get_detailed_error_vardict' referenced by Rename annotation
<unknown>:: Fatal: TelepathyGLib: warnings configured as fatal
<unknown>:: Fatal: TelepathyGLib: warnings configured as fatal