Re: [PATCH] [gdb/testsuite] Fix gdb.arch/i386-avx.exp with clang

[Pedro Alves <pedro@palves.net>]

On 2021-11-05 13:35, Tom de Vries wrote:
> On 11/5/21 2:20 PM, Pedro Alves wrote:
>> On 2021-11-05 13:15, Tom de Vries wrote:
>>> On 11/5/21 1:55 PM, Pedro Alves wrote:
>>>> On 2021-11-05 12:23, Tom de Vries via Gdb-patches wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> No, but in gdb/testsuite/lib/attribute.h we do setup a compatibility
>>>>>> macro for 'noclone', so there's definitely precedent for using
>>>>>> attributes that might not be supported everywhere.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Right, I'm aware of this, but that's a typical case where we have no
>>>>> portable alternative.
>>>>
>>>> We actually do -- _Alignas is standard C11.  This fixes the test as well:
>>>>
>>>>   _Alignas(32) v8sf_t data[] =
>>>>
>>>
>>> I was referring to the noclone, but ok, I was not aware of the _Alignas,
>>> good to know, thanks.
>>>
>>> Anyway, in the latest version this is not relevant anymore, since the
>>> precise alignment implementation has an extra benefit, as explained in
>>> the post.
>>>
>>
>> OOC, is that benefit important here?
>>
> 
> So, this is the post I mentioned (
> https://sourceware.org/pipermail/gdb-patches/2021-November/183183.html ).
> 
> Well, the benefit is that it prevents accidental overalignment, which is
> the reason that this problem escaped detection and/or fixing for so long.
> 
> Without that, I could do a thinko and specify too small an alignment and
> have the test passing accidentally, only to fail in a different setup.
> 

The code made no effort at all to align the object, which is I think the main reason
why it went missed.  As soon as you write some explicit alignment, I don't think
that your proposal helps that much.  The new allocator won't help _finding_ the places
that miss alignment directives.  I'm honestly not finding the benefit compelling enough to
justify the complication, compared to using alignas/_Alignas, which is what actual user
code will be using.  My .2c, anyhow.