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Groups > comp.lang.c > #401387

Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members

From David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no>
Newsgroups comp.lang.c
Subject Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members
Date 2026-08-21 08:57 +0200
Organization A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID <1168ste$2168$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References (9 earlier) <111soae$1eq8$1@kst.eternal-september.org> <11650g9$19gjl$1@paganini.bofh.team> <1165ai6$314h2$2@kst.eternal-september.org> <RuEhS.43025$KXn4.4683@fx08.iad> <1167m35$1iosv$1@paganini.bofh.team>

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On 20/08/2026 21:55, Waldek Hebisch wrote:
> Scott Lurndal <scott@slp53.sl.home> wrote:
>> Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> writes:
>>> antispam@fricas.org (Waldek Hebisch) writes:
>>   <snip>
>>>> Other post mentioned gcc "packed".  gcc "packed" does not
>>>> respect alignment rules, so in such cases 2 byte are enough
>>>> regardless of type.
>>>
>>> gcc "packed" can also cause quiet crashes on some systems.  It can
>>> result in, for example, an int member being allocated at an odd address.
>>> Passing the address of such a member to a function that assumes the
>>> pointed-to object is correctly aligned can result in Bad Things
>>> Happening.  (On x86, as I understand it, misaligned accesses
>>> are merely somewhat slower than aligned accesses.)
>>
>> In modern systems, so long as the misaligned access is
>> fully contained within a single cache line, there is
>> zero additional latency for the misaligned  access.
> 
> But most efficient access fetches the whole line.  If it stays
> within a single cache line, then by neccessity it is aligned.

The fetch of the cache line from memory is aligned, but the fetch of the 
actual data from the cache to the processor may not be aligned.

> 
> And adjective "modern" can be applied to microcontrollers.
> Microcontrollers typically have word-sized data bus.  Misaligned
> word sized access needs two transfers over data bus, clearly
> less efficient than single access.
> 

Indeed.  And for some microcontrollers - including some modern ones - 
misaligned accesses are simply not allowed by the hardware.  Most 
microcontrollers, modern or not, do not have cache at all unless they 
are quite high-end.

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Thread

Re: Microcontroller software stacks (was Re: this girl calls c ugly) Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-06-21 14:13 -0700
  Re: Microcontroller software stacks (was Re: this girl calls c ugly) David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-06-22 08:58 +0200
    Re: Microcontroller software stacks (was Re: this girl calls c ugly) Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-06-22 03:35 -0700
      Re: Microcontroller software stacks (was Re: this girl calls c ugly) cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-06-22 10:50 +0000
      Re: Microcontroller software stacks (was Re: this girl calls c ugly) David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-06-22 12:59 +0200
      Storage needed when there are bit-field members Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-06-28 09:42 -0700
        Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-06-28 18:06 -0700
          Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-06-28 20:20 -0700
            Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-08-14 14:56 -0700
              Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-08-14 22:30 +0000
                Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-08-15 16:10 -0700
                Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-08-16 15:20 +0000
            Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members antispam@fricas.org (Waldek Hebisch) - 2026-08-19 19:34 +0000
              Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-08-19 15:26 -0700
                Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-08-20 11:00 +0200
                Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-08-20 03:30 -0700
                Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-08-20 13:58 +0200
                Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-08-20 13:37 -0700
                Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-08-21 14:31 +0300
                Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-08-21 13:41 +0200
                Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-08-21 15:41 +0000
                Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-08-21 14:58 +0300
                Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-08-20 14:50 +0000
                Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2026-08-20 12:31 -0700
                Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members antispam@fricas.org (Waldek Hebisch) - 2026-08-20 19:55 +0000
                Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-08-21 08:57 +0200
                Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-08-21 14:59 +0000
                Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-08-20 22:15 +0300
          Re: Storage needed when there are bit-field members Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-08-14 14:19 -0700
  Re: Microcontroller software stacks (was Re: this girl calls c ugly) cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-06-22 10:45 +0000
    Re: Microcontroller software stacks (was Re: this girl calls c ugly) scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-06-22 15:23 +0000
    Re: Microcontroller software stacks (was Re: this girl calls c ugly) Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-08-14 13:23 -0700
      Re: Microcontroller software stacks (was Re: this girl calls c ugly) cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-08-18 20:32 +0000
  Re: Microcontroller software stacks (was Re: this girl calls c ugly) scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-06-22 15:04 +0000
    Re: Microcontroller software stacks (was Re: this girl calls c ugly) Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-06-22 13:02 -0700
    Re: Microcontroller software stacks Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-08-14 12:51 -0700
      Re: Microcontroller software stacks Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson <johann@myrkraverk.invalid> - 2026-08-15 05:02 +0800
        Re: Microcontroller software stacks bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2026-08-15 01:18 +0100
          Re: Microcontroller software stacks Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson <johann@myrkraverk.invalid> - 2026-08-16 13:52 +0800
      Re: Microcontroller software stacks Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-08-14 14:06 -0700
      Re: Microcontroller software stacks scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-08-14 21:42 +0000
        Re: Microcontroller software stacks Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-08-15 22:13 +0300
          Re: Microcontroller software stacks scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-08-15 19:39 +0000
            Re: Microcontroller software stacks Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-08-15 23:22 +0300
              Re: Microcontroller software stacks scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-08-16 14:38 +0000
                Re: Microcontroller software stacks Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-08-16 16:11 -0700
        Re: Microcontroller software stacks Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-08-15 16:16 -0700
          Re: Microcontroller software stacks cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-08-18 20:34 +0000
          Re: Microcontroller software stacks antispam@fricas.org (Waldek Hebisch) - 2026-08-19 19:57 +0000
        Re: Microcontroller software stacks Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-08-15 17:31 -0700
  Re: Microcontroller software stacks (was Re: this girl calls c ugly) Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson <johann@myrkraverk.invalid> - 2026-08-20 04:51 +0800

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