yay, template<> template<> does the trick! awesome syntax.

src/types.cc

@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ namespace pEp
     template class Wrapper<::message>;
 
     template<>
-    message* Wrapper<::message>::_new(PEP_msg_direction dir, char* s)
+    template<>
+    message* Wrapper<::message*>::_new<PEP_msg_direction, char*>(PEP_msg_direction dir, char* s)
     {
         message* m = new_message(dir);
         return m;

src/wrapper.hh

@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ public:
 private:
     // must be defined for each wrapped type:
     template<class... Args>
-    T* _new(Args...);
+    T _new(Args...);
 
     T value;
 };