NAME

       Attributes_of_Types - Attributes of Types.

       __attribute__ ((aligned)) __attribute__
       ((aligned (n))) __attribute__ ((packed))

DESCRIPTION

       The keyword __attribute__ allows you to specify special attributes of enum, struct and
       union types when you define such types. This keyword is followed by an attribute
       specification inside double parentheses. Two attributes are currently defined for types:
       aligned, and packed.

       You may specify type attributes in an enum, struct, or union type declaration or
       definition, or for other types in a typedef declaration.

       For an enum, struct, or union type, you may specify attributes either between the enum,
       struct or union tag and the name of the type, or just past the closing curly brace of the
       definition. The former syntax is preferred.

   aligned (alignment)
       This attribute specifies a minimum alignment (in bytes) for variables of the specified
       type. For example, the declarations:

       struct S { short f[3]; } __attribute__ ((aligned
       (8))); typedef int more_aligned_int
       __attribute__ ((aligned (8)));

       force the compiler to ensure (as far as it can) that each variable whose type is struct S
       or more_aligned_int will be allocated and aligned at least on a 8-byte boundary.

       Note that the alignment of any given struct or union type is required by the ISO C
       standard to be at least a perfect multiple of the lowest common multiple of the alignments
       of all of the members of the struct or union in question and must also be a power of two.
       This means that you can effectively adjust the alignment of a struct or union type by
       attaching an aligned attribute to any one of the members of such a type, but the notation
       illustrated in the example above is a more obvious, intuitive, and readable way to request
       the compiler to adjust the alignment of an entire struct or union type.

       As in the preceding example, you can explicitly specify the alignment (in bytes) that you
       wish the compiler to use for a given struct or union type. Alternatively, you can leave
       out the alignment factor and just ask the compiler to align a type to the maximum useful
       alignment for the target machine you are compiling for. For example, you could write:

       struct S { short f[3]; } __attribute__
       ((aligned));

       Whenever you leave out the alignment factor in an aligned attribute specification, the
       compiler automatically sets the alignment for the type to the largest alignment which is
       ever used for any data type on the target machine you are compiling for. In the example
       above, the size of each short is 2 bytes, and therefore the size of the entire struct S
       type is 6 bytes. The smallest power of two which is greater than or equal to that is 8, so
       the compiler sets the alignment for the entire struct S type to 8 bytes.

       Note that the effectiveness of aligned attributes may be limited by inherent limitations
       of the OpenCL device and compiler. For some devices, the OpenCL compiler may only be able
       to arrange for variables to be aligned up to a certain maximum alignment. If the OpenCL
       compiler is only able to align variables up to a maximum of 8 byte alignment, then
       specifying aligned(16) in an __attribute__ will still only provide you with 8 byte
       alignment. See your platform-specific documentation for further information.

       The aligned attribute can only increase the alignment; but you can decrease it by
       specifying packed as well. See below.

   packed
       The packed attribute, attached to the struct or union type definition, specifies that each
       member of the structure or union is placed to minimize the memory required. When attached
       to an enum definition, it indicates that the smallest integral type should be used.

       Specifying this attribute for struct and union types is equivalent to specifying the
       packed attribute on each of the structure or union members.

       In the following example struct my_packed_struct's members are packed closely together,
       but the internal layout of its s member is not packed. To do that, struct
       my_unpacked_struct would need to be packed, too.

       struct my_unpacked_struct { char c; int i; };

       struct __attribute__ ((packed)) my_packed_struct
       { char c; int i; struct my_unpacked_struct s; };

       You may only specify this attribute on the definition of a enum, struct, or union, not on
       a typedef which does not also define the enumerated type, structure or union.

SPECIFICATION

       OpenCL Specification[1]

SEE ALSO

       attribute(3clc), attributes-blocksAndControlFlow(3clc), attributes-variables(3clc)

AUTHORS

       The Khronos Group

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 2007-2011 The Khronos Group Inc.
       Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this
       software and/or associated documentation files (the "Materials"), to deal in the Materials
       without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge,
       publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Materials, and to permit
       persons to whom the Materials are furnished to do so, subject to the condition that this
       copyright notice and permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial
       portions of the Materials.

NOTES

        1. OpenCL Specification
           page 237, section 6.11.1 - Specifying Attributes of Types