Whitelist System.ICloneable

[rndtrash]

What it is?

Whitelist Error: System.Private.CoreLib/System.ICloneable.Clone()

Why do you need to use this?

System.ICloneable is a standard interface for when you need to make a copy of an object, be it deep or shallow.

It is absolutely not necessary, I can make my own interface, but at the same time I don't really want to reinvent a wheel, and the ICloneable interface is useful for the generic functions:

    public static Dictionary<T, U> DeepClone<T, U>( this Dictionary<T, U> dict ) where T : class, ICloneable where U : class, ICloneable => dict
            .Select( ( pair ) => new KeyValuePair<T, U>( pair.Key.Clone() as T, pair.Value.Clone() as U ) )
            .ToDictionary();

[LeQuackers]

Could have sworn the C# docs said ICloneable wasn't recommended because it's not clear if the implementer is returning a deep copy or shallow copy.

edit:
It's not recommended in public APIs:
System.ICloneable - Notes to Implementers

Because callers of Clone() cannot depend on the method performing a predictable cloning operation, we recommend that ICloneable not be implemented in public APIs.

Having this whitelisted or a Sandbox.ICloneable equivalent with a DeepClone and ShallowClone method would still be nice though.

[rndtrash]

...a Sandbox.ICloneable equivalent with a DeepClone and ShallowClone method would still be nice though.

I think that it is not really possible since the built-in classes like string already implement ICloneable, and you can't even make a wrapper that implements said Sandbox.ICloneable because string is sealed.

[LeQuackers]

I've never heard of someone calling Clone() on a string; if you look at the source it just returns itself.

If you look at what's derived from System.ICloneable in the docs, you'll see that most of it is stuff you'd never touch or probably won't actually clone (with the exception of Array). The System.Net.Http.Headers stuff is probably an exception as well, but ICloneable is implemented explicitly, so it's probably not intended to be called publicly.

With the exception of Array, I can't think of any existing public types that you'd actually call Clone() on; I was under the impression that this whitelist request was for implementation purposes. I suggested a Sandbox.ICloneable equivalent to discern shallow cloning and deep cloning, which avoids the main pitfall of System.ICloneable.

[rndtrash]

I was under the impression that this whitelist request was for implementation purposes.

Indeed, I just wanted my generic method to be usable for both the built-in types and for my own classes that actually implement a copying functionality.

[LeQuackers]

After thinking about this some more, Sandbox.ICloneable should probably be used instead of whitelisting System.ICloneable. System.ICloneable implementations tend to use MemberwiseClone() under the hood, which might lead to some security issues (not a security expert, just a gut feeling).

What built-in types do you need to clone?