I'm doing some checking of data structure layouts in different releases of our
code -- which were produced by different releases of GCC (3.3.3 vs. 4.5.4).
One difference I'm seeing that is puzzling is in the handling of base classes.
Specifically, the case where a base class has padding at the end to fill it out
to a multiple of the alignment.
In GCC 3.3.3, when such a class is used as a base class, that padding is
omitted, and the first derived class data member starts right after the last
base class real (not pad) data member. In GCC 4.5.4, the base class is used
padding and all, the first derived class data member starts after the padding
of the base class.
Which is correct? Or are both correct? This sort of thing is a potential
cause of trouble if such a class is used as a container for persistent data.
paul
