Returning Arc from #[pyclass]/#[pyfunction]

[ntakouris]

I did not find something relevant in google or this discussions tab, so I'm creating a new thread. Consider this example:

#[pyclass]
pub struct Thing{
// pyclass-compatible trait contents
}

impl Thing {
    pub fn start_something() -> Arc<Token> {
       // ...

       let token = Arc::new(Token::new(..))

       // .. pass token to some threads ..

       token
    }

   pub fn do_something(token: Arc<Token>) {
        // ... 
   }
}

#[pymethods]
impl Thing {
   fn start_something_py(&self) -> PyObject {
        let arc = self.start_something();
        // how to return something that returns the arc
       // so that I can send it back to `do_something_py` in the future?
   }

   fn start_something_py(something: Py<?>) {
       // how to move from a python reference to the arc I returned?
        let arc: Arc<Token> = something.<?>.unwrap();
        // ...
   }

}

[ntakouris]

I made a

#[pyclass]
pub struct TokenWrapper {
    node_runner: Arc<Token>,
}

and then on the python functions, you can accept a PyRef<TokenWrapper>.

This could be automated with some macro implementing traits, generic trait implementations or maybe pyclass support for type aliases?