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| From | James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> |
|---|---|
| Newsgroups | comp.lang.c |
| Subject | Re: Data alignment questin, structures |
| Date | 2013-01-18 14:05 -0500 |
| Organization | A noiseless patient Spider |
| Message-ID | <50F99CEC.9080802@verizon.net> (permalink) |
| References | <kcs982$r3p$1@dont-email.me> <kcshq5$7e8$1@dont-email.me> <kdc426$f0i$1@dont-email.me> |
On 01/18/2013 01:24 PM, mathog wrote:
> Eric Sosman wrote:
>>> Now, what happens when this struct is embedded in a binary file stored
>>> in a character array "buffer[]" such that its position "i" is not
>>> guaranteed to be aligned on the same boundary that
>>>
>>> Mystract *instance2 = malloc(sizeof(Mystruct));
>>>
>>> would have used, but will always be on a multiple of 2.
>>>
>>> 1. Will this always work?
>>>
>>> function1((Mystruct *) &(buffer[i]));
>>
>> Not "always," no. 6.3.2.3p7: "A pointer to an object type
>> may be converted to a pointer to a different object type. If the
>> resulting pointer is not correctly aligned for the referenced
>> type, the behavior is undefined. [...]" There's no guarantee
>> that the alignment of `buffer' suffices for `Mystruct'.
>
> On further consideration, how does one know what "correctly aligned"
> means for a given struct? Consider these two examples:
In C99 and earlier, there were only a few cases where you could infer
that a pointer was correctly aligned for a given operation. For
instance, a struct must have alignment requirements at least as strict
as those of any of it's members, but it can be stricter.
In C2011, several alignment-oriented features were added, such as
_Alignof(), and it's now possible to determine exactly whether or not
the alignment of any arbitrary type allows an operation.
> typedef struct {
> uint16_t one;
> uint16_t two;
> uint16_t three;
> uint16_t four;
> } Mystruct4;
>
> typedef struct {
> uint16_t one;
> uint16_t two;
> uint16_t three;
> uint16_t four;
> uint16_t five;
> } Mystruct5;
>
> The first would presumably be 8 bytes and the second 10. Is it safe to
> access these in a memory buffer via a pointer so long as that pointer
> is aligned on a 2 byte boundary? I would assume yes because all of the
> data within each struct has that alignment, and I am also assuming that
> this code should always work:
You've made several assumptions not guaranteed by the standard:
sizeof(uint16_t) == 2
_Alignof(uint16_t) == 2
_Alignof(Mystruct4) == _Alignof(uint16_t)
_Alignof(Mystruct5) == _Alignof(uint16_t)
For implementations where all of those things are true, your conclusion
holds, but it's not necessarily the case that any of those things are true.
> Or may a compiler make some assumption for Mystruct4 that requires it to
> be aligned on a 4 byte boundary too? ...
Yes.
> ... I see
> no reason for the compiler to add the 4 byte alignment
> requirement for these structures, but is it nevertheless free to do so?
Yes.
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Data alignment questin, structures mathog <mathog@caltech.edu> - 2013-01-12 10:15 -0800
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2013-01-12 18:54 +0000
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2013-01-15 20:14 +0000
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2013-01-15 16:29 -0500
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2013-01-12 15:41 -0500
Re: Data alignment questin, structures mathog <dmathog@gmail.com> - 2013-01-18 10:24 -0800
Re: Data alignment questin, structures James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2013-01-18 14:05 -0500
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2013-01-18 14:46 -0500
Re: Data alignment questin, structures glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2013-01-18 21:11 +0000
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Shao Miller <sha0.miller@gmail.com> - 2013-01-18 17:14 -0500
Re: Data alignment questin, structures glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2013-01-18 23:09 +0000
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2013-01-18 16:23 -0800
Re: Data alignment questin, structures mathog <mathog@caltech.edu> - 2013-01-19 21:02 -0800
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Shao Miller <sha0.miller@gmail.com> - 2013-01-20 01:25 -0500
Re: Data alignment questin, structures glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2013-01-20 07:53 +0000
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2013-01-20 14:02 +0000
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2013-01-20 07:35 -0800
Re: Data alignment questin, structures 88888 Dihedral <dihedral88888@googlemail.com> - 2013-01-20 11:49 -0800
Re: Data alignment questin, structures James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2013-01-20 12:30 -0500
Re: Data alignment questin, structures mathog <mathog@caltech.edu> - 2013-01-20 10:26 -0800
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Shao Miller <sha0.miller@gmail.com> - 2013-01-20 15:11 -0500
Re: Data alignment questin, structures "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2013-01-20 20:34 +0000
Re: Data alignment questin, structures James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2013-01-20 15:53 -0500
Re: Data alignment questin, structures 88888 Dihedral <dihedral88888@googlemail.com> - 2013-01-20 13:16 -0800
Re: Data alignment questin, structures mathog <mathog@caltech.edu> - 2013-01-20 20:27 -0800
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Shao Miller <sha0.miller@gmail.com> - 2013-01-21 00:37 -0500
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Dr Nick <nospam-4@temporary-address.org.uk> - 2013-01-21 10:07 +0000
Re: Data alignment questin, structures mathog <mathog@caltech.edu> - 2013-01-21 10:21 -0800
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2013-01-21 10:34 -0800
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2013-01-21 13:07 -0800
Re: Data alignment questin, structures "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2013-01-21 22:24 +0000
Re: Data alignment questin, structures mathog <dmathog@gmail.com> - 2013-01-22 10:18 -0800
Re: Data alignment questin, structures glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2013-01-22 20:57 +0000
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2013-01-22 14:51 -0800
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2013-01-22 11:12 +1300
Re: Data alignment questin, structures glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2013-01-21 20:53 +0000
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2013-01-20 22:06 -0800
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Philip Lantz <prl@canterey.us> - 2013-01-22 00:27 -0800
Re: Data alignment questin, structures James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2013-01-22 06:44 -0500
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Bart van Ingen Schenau <bart@ingen.ddns.info.invalid> - 2013-01-21 10:19 +0000
Re: Data alignment questin, structures glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2013-01-20 22:19 +0000
Re: Data alignment questin, structures glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2013-01-20 22:14 +0000
Re: Data alignment questin, structures "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2013-01-20 22:48 +0000
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Les Cargill <lcargill99@comcast.com> - 2013-01-20 18:11 -0600
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2013-01-21 14:07 +1300
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Shao Miller <sha0.miller@gmail.com> - 2013-01-12 17:45 -0500
Re: Data alignment questin, structures mathog <mathog@caltech.edu> - 2013-01-13 10:17 -0800
Re: Data alignment questin, structures Shao Miller <sha0.miller@gmail.com> - 2013-01-13 17:16 -0500
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