> Perhaps a better fix is this:
>
> struct Mem {
> i64 i;
> double r;
> char *z;
> int n;
> u16 flags;
> u8 type;
> u8 enc;
> void (*xDel)(void *);
> union {
> long double notUsed1;
> char zShort[NBFS];
> };
> };
>
> The compiler would then (hopefully) insert an appropriate
> amount of padding prior to zShort so that it had the same
> alignment restructions as a long double.
>
> This approach uses an anonymous union, which I confess is
> a C construct that I have never in 22 years of C programming
> had the occasion to employ. It seems to work well enough
> using gcc 3.3.4. But down in my gut I have this nagging
> fealing that it will likely break on some compilers.
>
Well, it's supported by most compilers today, but I try to avoid
anonymous unions in C code as well. They are fairly standard for C++,
but not for C. But the approach seems fine to me - the alignment will
be forced in this case.
