On Fri, Jul 30, 2021 at 12:00:54PM +0300, Dan Carpenter wrote: > On Fri, Jul 30, 2021 at 10:38:45AM +0200, David Sterba wrote: > > Then is explicit memset the only reliable way accross all compiler > > flavors and supported versions? > > > > The = { } initializer works. It's only when you start partially > initializing the struct that it doesn't initialize holes. No, partial works. It's when you _fully_ initialize the struct where the padding doesn't get initialized. *sob* struct foo { u8 flag; /* padding */ void *ptr; }; These are fine: struct foo ok1 = { }; struct foo ok2 = { .flag = 7 }; struct foo ok3 = { .ptr = NULL }; This is not: struct foo bad = { .flag = 7, .ptr = NULL }; (But, of course, it depends on padding size, compiler version, and architecture. i.e. things remain unreliable.) -- Kees Cook