Holes in Structures

[Brierley]

I have a major problem with changing the way the compiler handles
structures.  I am currently working on what will become a heavily
used major program package that has at its heart a series of data
structures.  No problem so far, huh?  Well, the main thing that I
do with these structures is to ship them across a local area net
to another machine.  No problem if all machines run EXACTLY the
same compiler.  However, there are several 4.1BSD VAX machines,
a V7 pdp, and several VMS VAX machines.  I have already run into
problems with the VMS machines in that the DEC C compiler knows
that integers do not have to be aligned on a longword boundary on
the VAX and therefore do NOT have to be aligned by leaving holes
in the structure.  Now unless someone wants to convince DEC that
they should make their compiler more compatible by making it less
efficient,  I suggest we leave everything the way it is.

--
	Dave Brierley
	Raytheon Co.; Portsmouth RI; (401)-847-8000 x4073
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