misalign flag in gcc 3.3

[Yan.Periard@sungard.com]

	Hi,

		I know this question seems to resurface every once in a while, but I was unable to find a definitive answer on the possible inclusion of a misalign compilation flag for gcc on sunOS. We are looking to switch from cc to gcc to save on the licencing cost but we are working with a legacy code base that extensively uses the misalign flag of cc. Sadly the code is core dumping using gcc. Here is a sample code that could help understand the problem. Is there any solution ? Where should I look for more details ?

	If I am not posting to the right list please tell me so I can post this to the correct one.

	thanks.

Yan Periard

/****** Example code *******/

#include <stdio.h>
#include <malloc.h>

int
main(void)
{

    char *chunk;
    int data;
    int *data_p;

    chunk = (char *) malloc(sizeof(int) * 2);
    printf("chunk = %08x\n", chunk);

    /*
     * This should be valid, data is aligned properly.
     */
    
    data_p = &data;
    *data_p = 1;
    printf("*data_p = %d, data_p = %08x\n", *data_p, data_p);
    /*
     * This should also be valid, chunk is probably aligned properly.
     */
    
    data_p = (int *) chunk;
    *data_p = 2;
    printf("*data_p = %d, data_p = %08x\n", *data_p, data_p);

    /*
     * This should cause an alignment bus fault.  chunk + 1 is byte
	  * aligned, but is not aligned to an int.
     */

	 *chunk = 'C'; 
    data_p = (int *) (chunk + 1);
	/* Prints ok, using cc or gcc on SunOS 5.8 */
    printf("*chunk = %c\n", *chunk );
    *data_p = 3;
	 /* Cores with a bus error using cc and gcc */
	 /* Works using cc -misalign */
	 /* Is there a way to make this work using gcc on SunOs */
    printf("*data_p = %d, data_p = %08x\n", *data_p, data_p);

    return 0;
}