Is cv::Mat class flawed by design?

Question

I work a lot with the OpenCV C++ interface and designed a number of classes which use Mat\'s as private resources.

Recently, I got concerned about the Mat class, as

Answer 1

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Now to the questions:

1. No. We do not see an efficient way to implement this. If you do, let's discuss it.

2. Yes. Do not use Mat::clone() unless you plan to modify the data. Reference counting takes care of proper deallocation of the data when it's no longer used.