Consider the following test case compiled with GCC4.5.1 (x86) and the following command: gcc -S -Os test.c struct struct1 { void *data; unsigned short f1; unsigned short f2; }; typedef struct struct1 S1; struct struct2 { int f3; S1 f4; }; typedef struct struct2 S2; extern void foo (S1 *ptr); extern S2 gstruct2_var; extern S1 gstruct1_var; static S1 bar (const S1 *ptr) __attribute__ ((always_inline)); static S1 bar (const S1 *ptr) { S1 ls_var = *ptr; foo (&ls_var); return ls_var; } int main () { S2 *ps_var; ps_var = &gstruct2_var; ps_var->f4 = bar (&gstruct1_var); return 0; } We get: main: leal 4(%esp), %ecx andl $-16, %esp pushl -4(%ecx) pushl %ebp movl %esp, %ebp pushl %ecx subl $32, %esp movl gstruct1_var, %eax movl gstruct1_var+4, %edx movl %eax, -16(%ebp) leal -16(%ebp), %eax pushl %eax movl %edx, -12(%ebp) call foo movl -16(%ebp), %eax movl -4(%ebp), %ecx movl %eax, gstruct2_var+4 movl -12(%ebp), %eax <-- load1 [ebp - 12] @ 4 bytes movw %ax, gstruct2_var+8 <-- store1 [gstruct2_var + 8] @ 2 bytes movw -10(%ebp), %ax <-- load2 [ebp - 10] @ 2 bytes movw %ax, gstruct2_var+10 <-- store2 [gstruct2_var + 10] @ 2 bytes xorl %eax, %eax leave leal -4(%ecx), %esp ret .size main, .-main .ident "GCC: (GNU) 4.5.1" .section .note.GNU-stack,"",@progbits With GCC4.4.1 we get: main: leal 4(%esp), %ecx andl $-16, %esp pushl -4(%ecx) pushl %ebp movl %esp, %ebp pushl %ecx subl $32, %esp movl gstruct1_var, %eax movl gstruct1_var+4, %edx movl %eax, -16(%ebp) leal -16(%ebp), %eax movl %edx, -12(%ebp) pushl %eax call foo movl -12(%ebp), %eax <-- Load1 [ebp - 12] @ 4 bytes movl -4(%ebp), %ecx movl %eax, gstruct2_var+8 <-- Store1 [gstruct2_var + 8] @ 4 bytes movl -16(%ebp), %eax movl %eax, gstruct2_var+4 xorl %eax, %eax leave leal -4(%ecx), %esp ret .size main, .-main .ident "GCC: (GNU) 4.4.1" .section .note.GNU-stack,"",@progbits The extra load stores appear to be the result of change to SRA fully scalarizing structure members f1 and f2. With GCC4.4.1 the access to these fields is done using a BIT_FIELD_REF which combines the two loads and stores. Talking to MartinJ on IRC I was told the changes to SRA make aggressive scalarization of aggregates. In the past there was some functionality to try and combine appropriate components into BIT_FIELD_REFs so as to reduce the number of loads/stores. This has been removed from 4.5 in favour of simplicity of the Gimple IR and working towards generic MEM_REFs. The plan is to introduce new IR constructs to load/store individual bits and in a separate gimple pass decide how to combine them together. But, this will only be available in 4.7+. We also have the exact same issue on our port and causes a significant performance regression on our software.
Created attachment 22974 [details] Patch Vs 4.5.2 Rev 167088
This issue also exists on the trunk. I am in the process of bootstrap testing this for i686-pc-linux-gnu. I will send out this patch once it checks out. The attached patch is Vs 4.5.2 Rev 167088.
I encountered this behavior with 4.8.0: struct pollfd pfd[3]; ... pfd[2].events = POLLOUT; pfd[2].revents = 0; This compiled to: movw $4, 44(%rsp) #, pfd[2].events movw $0, 46(%rsp) #, pfd[2].revents
Store merging currently merges the two loads and stores of short ints into a normal int, so this can be closed. I have proposed to add this testcase to the testsuite: https://gcc.gnu.org/pipermail/gcc-patches/2021-January/563096.html
Eh, really closing.
The master branch has been updated by Martin Jambor <jamborm@gcc.gnu.org>: https://gcc.gnu.org/g:d7e681fc3afff24a6279058cbb0b0dc4cd96be8c commit r11-6862-gd7e681fc3afff24a6279058cbb0b0dc4cd96be8c Author: Martin Jambor <mjambor@suse.cz> Date: Fri Jan 22 18:09:38 2021 +0100 Testcase for old PR 47059 I stumbled across PR 47059 from 2010 which has been addressed by store-merging. I am going to close it but would like to add its testcase too. gcc/testsuite/ChangeLog: 2021-01-08 Martin Jambor <mjambor@suse.cz> PR tree-optimization/47059 * gcc.dg/tree-ssa/pr47059.c: New test.