The following two functions are equivalent (especially after loop unrolling):
void foo(const int *restrict a, int *restrict b, int *restrict c) { b[0] += a[0]; c[0] += a[0]; b[1] += a[1]; c[1] += a[1]; } void bar(const int *restrict a, int *restrict b, int *restrict c) { for (int i = 0; i < 2; ++i) { b[i] += a[i]; c[i] += a[i]; } } However gcc forgets about 'restrict' after the first iteration of the loop, and foo() and bar() produce different code: foo: pushl %ebx movl 8(%esp), %ebx movl 12(%esp), %eax movl 16(%esp), %edx movl (%ebx), %ecx addl %ecx, (%eax) addl %ecx, (%edx) ;; Correct: no reloading of (%ebx) is needed. movl 4(%ebx), %ecx addl %ecx, 4(%eax) addl %ecx, 4(%edx) ;; Correct: no reloading of 4(%ebx) is needed. popl %ebx ret bar: pushl %ebx movl 8(%esp), %ebx movl 12(%esp), %edx movl 16(%esp), %ecx movl (%ebx), %eax addl %eax, (%edx) addl %eax, (%ecx) ;; Correct: no reloading of (%ebx) is needed. movl 4(%ebx), %eax addl %eax, 4(%edx) movl 4(%ebx), %eax ;; BUG: unnecessary reloading of 4(%ebx). addl %eax, 4(%ecx) popl %ebx ret For any number of iterations only the first iteration honors the 'restrict' qualifier. This is wrong, because 'restrict' is a property of a pointer, not data, so if p and q pointers reference different objects, then (p + OFF1) and (q + OFF2) also expected to reference different objects. Correct assembler for foo() supports that. -- Summary: 'restrict' is forgotten after loop unrolling Product: gcc Version: 4.2.0 Status: UNCONFIRMED Severity: normal Priority: P3 Component: c AssignedTo: unassigned at gcc dot gnu dot org ReportedBy: tomash dot brechko at gmail dot com GCC build triplet: i686-pc-linux-gnu GCC host triplet: i686-pc-linux-gnu GCC target triplet: i686-pc-linux-gnu http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=32273