Local hacks to compile and monkey patch issues in the Python world

All AI generated slop. Do NOT trust these "fixes". It's just to get it
working on my machine.

src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/entity_instance.py

@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ class entity_instance_mixin:
             idx = self.get_argument_index(name)
             return self.get_argument(idx)
         elif attr_cat == INVERSE:
-            vs = self.get_inverse(name)
+            vs = self.get_inverses_by_declaration(name)
             if settings.unpack_non_aggregate_inverses:
                 schema_name = self.is_a(True).split(".")[0]
                 ent: ifcopenshell_wrapper.entity
@@ -213,11 +213,17 @@ class entity_instance_mixin:
         return value
 
     def __eq__(self, other: entity_instance_mixin) -> bool:
-        if not isinstance(self, type(other)):
+        if other is None or not isinstance(other, entity_instance_mixin):
             return False
         else:
             raise NotImplementedError
 
+    def __ne__(self, other: entity_instance_mixin) -> bool:
+        if other is None or not isinstance(other, entity_instance_mixin):
+            return True
+        else:
+            raise NotImplementedError
+
     def is_entity(self) -> bool:
         """Tests whether the instance is an entity type as opposed to a simple data type.
 
@@ -395,3 +401,45 @@ class entity_instance_mixin:
         assert return_type is dict
         assert len(ignore) == 0
         return ifcopenshell_wrapper.get_info_cpp(self, recursive, include_identifier)
+
+
+# Alias for backwards compatibility — external code imports this name.
+entity_instance = entity_instance_mixin
+
+
+# Monkey-patch SWIG's __eq__, __ne__, __lt__ on the generated entity_instance
+# class to guard against None / non-entity arguments. SWIG generates these
+# directly on the class (overriding the mixin), and they pass arguments straight
+# to C++ which rejects null references.
+# Deferred until after ifcopenshell_wrapper finishes loading to avoid circular import.
+_swig_comparisons_patched = False
+
+
+def _patch_swig_comparisons():
+    global _swig_comparisons_patched
+    if _swig_comparisons_patched:
+        return
+    _swig_cls = ifcopenshell_wrapper.entity_instance
+    _orig_eq = _swig_cls.__eq__
+    _orig_ne = _swig_cls.__ne__
+    _orig_lt = _swig_cls.__lt__
+
+    def _safe_eq(self, other):
+        if other is None or not isinstance(other, _swig_cls):
+            return NotImplemented
+        return _orig_eq(self, other)
+
+    def _safe_ne(self, other):
+        if other is None or not isinstance(other, _swig_cls):
+            return NotImplemented
+        return _orig_ne(self, other)
+
+    def _safe_lt(self, other):
+        if other is None or not isinstance(other, _swig_cls):
+            return NotImplemented
+        return _orig_lt(self, other)
+
+    _swig_cls.__eq__ = _safe_eq
+    _swig_cls.__ne__ = _safe_ne
+    _swig_cls.__lt__ = _safe_lt
+    _swig_comparisons_patched = True