Squashed commit of the following:

commit 8b16df3
Author: Kirill Müller <krlmlr@users.noreply.github.com>
Date:   Thu Jan 22 07:37:45 2026 +0100

    Formatting

commit f557b0b
Author: Kirill Müller <krlmlr@users.noreply.github.com>
Date:   Thu Jan 22 07:35:10 2026 +0100

    Clarify

commit ac9756b
Author: Kirill Müller <krlmlr@users.noreply.github.com>
Date:   Thu Jan 22 07:06:41 2026 +0100

    Remove

commit 64be6e7
Author: Copilot <198982749+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Date:   Thu Jan 22 07:05:34 2026 +0100

    Add test for external_pointer attribute preservation and fix move assignment operator (r-lib#486)

    Co-authored-by: krlmlr <1741643+krlmlr@users.noreply.github.com>
    Co-authored-by: copilot-swe-agent[bot] <198982749+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

commit 1db6beb
Author: Kirill Müller <kirill@cynkra.com>
Date:   Sat Dec 7 20:47:09 2024 +0100

    fix: Avoid premature release for external pointers

Author: krlmlr

cpp11test/src/test-external_pointer.cpp

@@ -36,4 +36,53 @@ context("external_pointer-C++") {
     uniq.reset();
     expect_true(deleted == true);
   }
+
+  test_that("external_pointer preserves attributes when moved (issue #308)") {
+    // Test move constructor
+    {
+      int* value = new int(42);
+      cpp11::external_pointer<int> p(value);
+
+      // Set an attribute on the external pointer
+      Rf_setAttrib(p, R_ClassSymbol, Rf_mkString("test_class"));
+
+      // Verify attribute exists before move
+      SEXP class_attr = Rf_getAttrib(p, R_ClassSymbol);
+      expect_true(class_attr != R_NilValue);
+
+      // Move the external pointer using move constructor
+      cpp11::external_pointer<int> p_moved = std::move(p);
+
+      // Verify attribute is preserved after move
+      SEXP class_attr_after = Rf_getAttrib(p_moved, R_ClassSymbol);
+      expect_true(class_attr_after != R_NilValue);
+      expect_true(strcmp(CHAR(STRING_ELT(class_attr_after, 0)), "test_class") == 0);
+
+      // Clean up
+      delete p_moved.release();
+    }
+
+    // Test move assignment operator
+    {
+      int* value1 = new int(1);
+      cpp11::external_pointer<int> p1(value1);
+
+      // Set an attribute on p1
+      Rf_setAttrib(p1, R_ClassSymbol, Rf_mkString("test_class"));
+
+      // Create p2 with nullptr (no memory leak)
+      cpp11::external_pointer<int> p2(nullptr);
+
+      // Move assign p1 to p2
+      p2 = std::move(p1);
+
+      // Verify attribute is preserved after move assignment
+      SEXP class_attr_after = Rf_getAttrib(p2, R_ClassSymbol);
+      expect_true(class_attr_after != R_NilValue);
+      expect_true(strcmp(CHAR(STRING_ELT(class_attr_after, 0)), "test_class") == 0);
+
+      // Clean up
+      delete p2.release();
+    }
+  }
 }

inst/include/cpp11/external_pointer.hpp

@@ -67,9 +67,19 @@ class external_pointer {
     data_ = safe[Rf_shallow_duplicate](rhs.data_);
   }
 
-  external_pointer(external_pointer&& rhs) { reset(rhs.release()); }
+  external_pointer(external_pointer&& rhs) {
+    data_ = rhs.data_;
+    rhs.data_ = R_NilValue;
+  }
 
-  external_pointer& operator=(external_pointer&& rhs) noexcept { reset(rhs.release()); }
+  external_pointer& operator=(external_pointer&& rhs) noexcept {
+    // This works even if `this == &rhs` because `data_` (a `cpp11::sexp`) handles
+    // the underlying resource.
+    data_ = rhs.data_;
+    // Order matters: first assign, then clear the RHS.
+    rhs.data_ = R_NilValue;
+    return *this;
+  }
 
   external_pointer& operator=(std::nullptr_t) noexcept { reset(); };