[fpc-pascal] record alignment

[Ryan Joseph]

I have a struct I need to port from C but the size I’m getting in Pascal is wrong. From C sizeof(AAPLVertex) = 32 but in Pascal sizeof(AAPLVertex) = 24.

The alignment of the struct is on 32 bit bounds I think but how do I replicate this in Pascal so it behaves exactly like c? I tried using $align but it didn’t seem to have any effect.

{$align 32}
type
TAAPLVertex = packed record
position: vector_float2;
color: vector_float4;
end;


typedef struct
{
vector_float2 position;
vector_float4 color;
} AAPLVertex;


Regards,
Ryan Joseph

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[Karoly Balogh (Charlie/SGR)]

Hi,

I have a struct I need to port from C but the size I’m getting in Pascal
is wrong. From C sizeof(AAPLVertex) = 32 but in Pascal
sizeof(AAPLVertex) = 24.
The alignment of the struct is on 32 bit bounds I think but how do I
replicate this in Pascal so it behaves exactly like c? I tried using
$align but it didn’t seem to have any effect.
{$align 32}
type
TAAPLVertex = packed record
position: vector_float2;
color: vector_float4;
end;

The whole idea of a packed record is to ignore alignment and "pack" the
fields ignoring padding and alignment. Use a normal record without
"packed", or add the padding fields manually, if you still have to use a
packed record for whatever reason.

BTW, $align specifies the alignment in *BYTES* not in bits. So to align to
32bits you need {$align 4}. But Free Pascal also supports {$packrecords
C}, where it will try to mimic the C compiler's alignment as native to the
target platform. In any unit which needs to interface to a C library, I'd
use {$packrecords C} and no {$align}

This is all documented BTW at the respective directives...

Charlie

[Ryan Joseph]

Post by Karoly Balogh (Charlie/SGR)
The whole idea of a packed record is to ignore alignment and "pack" the
fields ignoring padding and alignment. Use a normal record without
"packed", or add the padding fields manually, if you still have to use a
packed record for whatever reason.
BTW, $align specifies the alignment in *BYTES* not in bits. So to align to
32bits you need {$align 4}. But Free Pascal also supports {$packrecords
C}, where it will try to mimic the C compiler's alignment as native to the
target platform. In any unit which needs to interface to a C library, I'd
use {$packrecords C} and no {$align}

Ok, I see now. I tried adding {$packrecords C} in all units but the size still comes back as 24 instead of 32. So what is the C compiler really doing I wonder? I found out through trial and error I need 2 floats in-between both fields to get proper alignment but why is this? I hate to be adding random space into records which may break on other machines or if built with different compilers (I’m using ppcx64 btw if that matters).

type
TAAPLVertex = record
position: vector_float2;

padding_0: simd_float;
padding_1: simd_float;

color: vector_float4;
end;





Regards,
Ryan Joseph

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