On Wed, Nov 11, 2020 at 04:47:16PM +0100, Jessica Yu wrote:
Thanks for providing the links and references. Your explanation and this reply from Jakub [1] clarified things for me. I was not aware of the distinction gcc made between aligned attributes on types vs. on variables. So from what I understand now, gcc suppresses the optimization when the alignment is specified in the variable declaration, but not necessarily when the aligned attribute is just on the type. Even though it's been in use for a long time, I think it would be really helpful if this gcc quirk was explained just a bit more in the patch changelogs, especially since this is undocumented behavior. I found the explanation in [1] (as well as in your cover letter) to be sufficient. Maybe something like "GCC suppresses any optimizations increasing alignment when the alignment is specified in the variable declaration, as opposed to just on the type definition. Therefore, explicitly specify type alignment when declaring entries to prevent gcc from increasing alignment."
Sure, I can try to expand the commit messages a bit.
In any case, I can take the module and moduleparam.h patches through my tree, but I will wait a few days in case there are any objections.
Sounds good, thanks. I'll send a v2 next week then. Johan
[1] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20201021131806.GA2176@tucnak/
