# Why are opaque C pointers not imported as distinct types?

**URL:** <https://forums.swift.org/t/why-are-opaque-c-pointers-not-imported-as-distinct-types/62803>\
**Category:** Discussion\
**Created:** [January 26, 2023, 7:53pm UTC](https://forums.swift.org/t/why-are-opaque-c-pointers-not-imported-as-distinct-types/62803 "2023-01-26T19:53:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 4

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**Author:** ![jrose](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/swift/user_avatar/forums.swift.org/jrose/32/408_2.png) [@jrose](https://forums.swift.org/u/jrose)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 1:48am UTC](https://forums.swift.org/t/why-are-opaque-c-pointers-not-imported-as-distinct-types/62803/4 "2023-01-27T01:48:48Z")

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Some history and apologies:

> **[Swift Regret: OpaquePointer](https://belkadan.com/blog/2021/10/Swift-Regret-OpaquePointer/?tag=swift-regrets)**
>
> Trying to be correctly conservative led Swift to be LESS type-safe than C in this one area. Oops.

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