6.33.6 x86 Type Attributes

Two attributes are currently defined for x86 configurations: ms_struct and gcc_struct.

ms_struct
gcc_struct

If packed is used on a structure, or if bit-fields are used it may be that the Microsoft ABI packs them differently than GCC normally packs them. Particularly when moving packed data between functions compiled with GCC and the native Microsoft compiler (either via function call or as data in a file), it may be necessary to access either format.

The ms_struct and gcc_struct attributes correspond to the -mms-bitfields and -mno-ms-bitfields command-line options, respectively; see x86 Options, for details of how structure layout is affected. See x86 Variable Attributes, for information about the corresponding attributes on variables.