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| From | Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> |
|---|---|
| Newsgroups | comp.lang.c |
| Subject | Re: Aliasing through a union pointer |
| Date | 2015-11-23 15:49 -0800 |
| Organization | None to speak of |
| Message-ID | <lnbnak2s4a.fsf@kst-u.example.com> (permalink) |
| References | <n2vdrr$6c5$1@dont-email.me> <n2vfjp$e1t$1@dont-email.me> <n2voss$m44$1@dont-email.me> <n2vtq1$avd$1@dont-email.me> <slrnn5749h.5q5.grahn+nntp@frailea.sa.invalid> |
Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> writes:
> On Mon, 2015-11-23, David Brown wrote:
> ...
>> I'd advise against __attribute__((packed)) (or equivalents on other
>> compilers) - either it makes no difference because there is no padding,
>> or you will end up with structures with fields that don't match their
>> alignment. On some targets, that means run-time errors - on others, it
>> means seriously degraded code speed. So it is rarely a good idea.
>
> I think I agree, but are there really cases where you say
> __attribute__((packed)) and then suffer a crash because of it? The
> compiler shouldn't generate a struct, and code to access it which will
> crash if it's ever run.
Yes -- at least on systems where a misaligned access causes a crash.
(On x86 and x86_64, it doesn't; it's just a little slower.)
For example, given:
struct foo {
char c;
int x;
} __attribute__((packed));
if a struct foo object is, say, 4-byte aligned, then the member x is
likely to be misaligned. If you refer to the x member of a struct foo
object:
struct foo obj;
obj.x;
then gcc knows it's a member of a packed struct, and will generate
whatever code is necessary to access it. But if you take the address:
int *ptr = &obj.x;
... *ptr ...
then gcc will assume that *ptr is properly aligned, and a crash is
likely.
This could be fixed by disallowing taking the address of misaligned
members (as is done for bit fields), or of *any* member of a packed
struct, or, less realistically, by generating inefficient code
for all dereferences of pointers to types that require nontrivial
alignment.
See also <http://stackoverflow.com/q/8568432/827263>.
--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
Working, but not speaking, for JetHead Development, Inc.
"We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this."
-- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"
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Aliasing through a union pointer Ian Pilcher <arequipeno@gmail.com> - 2015-11-23 10:14 -0600
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2015-11-23 11:43 -0500
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2015-11-23 11:49 -0500
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Ian Pilcher <arequipeno@gmail.com> - 2015-11-23 13:22 -0600
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2015-11-23 14:38 -0500
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2015-11-25 10:38 -0800
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2015-11-25 14:17 -0500
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2015-11-27 13:16 -0800
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2015-11-23 21:46 +0100
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2015-11-23 22:20 +0000
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2015-11-23 16:52 -0600
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2015-11-23 23:10 +0000
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2015-11-23 19:05 -0600
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Nick Bowler <nbowler@draconx.ca> - 2015-11-23 22:51 +0000
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-11-23 15:49 -0800
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer supercat@casperkitty.com - 2015-11-23 16:01 -0800
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2015-11-24 09:55 +0100
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2015-11-24 14:29 +0000
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2015-11-24 22:58 +0100
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2015-11-24 17:30 -0500
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer supercat@casperkitty.com - 2015-11-24 15:27 -0800
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2015-11-25 12:57 +1300
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer supercat@casperkitty.com - 2015-11-24 16:31 -0800
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2015-11-25 18:28 +1300
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer supercat@casperkitty.com - 2015-11-25 06:54 -0800
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2015-11-26 08:59 +1300
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer supercat@casperkitty.com - 2015-11-25 13:01 -0800
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2015-11-26 12:58 +1300
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer supercat@casperkitty.com - 2015-11-25 16:44 -0800
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2015-11-26 14:12 +1300
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer supercat@casperkitty.com - 2015-11-25 21:34 -0800
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2015-11-25 21:55 -0800
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2015-11-26 20:51 +1300
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer supercat@casperkitty.com - 2015-11-26 11:39 -0800
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2015-11-26 00:06 +0000
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-11-24 11:51 -0800
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer supercat@casperkitty.com - 2015-11-24 12:20 -0800
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-11-24 21:52 -0800
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer supercat@casperkitty.com - 2015-11-25 08:30 -0800
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2015-11-24 23:04 +0100
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2015-11-25 10:10 -0800
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2015-11-25 11:02 -0800
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Philip Lantz <prl@canterey.us> - 2015-11-26 13:06 -0800
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2015-11-26 13:09 -0800
Re: Aliasing through a union pointer Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2015-11-27 13:08 -0800
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