On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 10:59 AM, Ian Lance Taylor <iant@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> Then why is attribute((packed)) provided? I really don't see a use >> for it. Why not rename it to __attribute__((addressviolation))? > > The potential address violation only occurs when you take the address > of a field and pass it to another function. There are many ways to > use structures without taking the address of a field. So my example handle(&t.field2); has the potential to create an address violation, but these assignments do not(?): t.field2 = <some value> t->field2 = <some value> Thanks, Darren