A cast to volatile int pointer is ignored on gcc 4.5 with this test case. struct st { int ptr; };
int foo(struct st *st) { int v = *(volatile int *)&st->ptr; return v & 0xff; } mipsel-linux-gcc-4.5.1 -O2 foo.c -S output: lbu $2,0($4) j $31 nop It seems the cast are ignored and "load int and mask" was optimized to "load byte". gcc 4.4.4 works fine. mipsel-linux-gcc-4.4.4 -O2 foo.c -S output: lw $2,0($4) j $31 andi $2,$2,0x00ff git-bisect tell me 0d9f1189f3df5ce5c0efc3ecadc7c0a4f75b202d is the first bad commit. URL: http://gcc.gnu.org/viewcvs?view=revision&revision=156571 The commit is fix for Bug 42956. The PR 42956 bugzilla shows same fix was applied to both 4.5.0 and 4.4.4, but they behave differently on this test case. Comparing patches for 4.4 branch and 4.5, I see the latter contains two more changes for gimplify.c: A STRIP_NOP line and lines starting with "/* *(foo *)&complexfoo => __real__ complexfoo */" comment. I do not know gcc internal at all but it seems reverting this change fixes this problem. - STRIP_USELESS_TYPE_CONVERSION (sub); + STRIP_NOPS (sub); Hope this helps. -- Summary: [4.5 Regression] load byte instruction is used for volatile int Product: gcc Version: 4.5.1 Status: UNCONFIRMED Severity: normal Priority: P3 Component: tree-optimization AssignedTo: unassigned at gcc dot gnu dot org ReportedBy: anemo at mba dot ocn dot ne dot jp http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=45704