https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=106503
Bug ID: 106503 Summary: "const char []" in local scope never initialized Product: gcc Version: 11.3.0 Status: UNCONFIRMED Severity: normal Priority: P3 Component: c Assignee: unassigned at gcc dot gnu.org Reporter: eb at emlix dot com Target Milestone: --- Given the following test program: ------------ #include <sys/uio.h> #include <string.h> #define WRITEL(str) \ do { \ wdata[wpos].iov_base = (void*)(str); \ wdata[wpos].iov_len = strlen(str); \ wlen += wdata[wpos].iov_len; \ wpos++; \ } while (0) int main(int argc, char **argv) { struct iovec wdata[20]; unsigned int wpos = 0; ssize_t wlen = 0; int i = (argc > 1) ? 1 : 0; WRITEL("foo"); if (argc) { const char junk[] = "abc"; WRITEL(junk + i); } else { const char *junk = "def"; WRITEL(junk + i); } WRITEL("baz\n"); return writev(1, wdata, wpos) > 0 ? 0 : 1; } ------------ For gcc 10 and before, and gcc 11, 12, or 13 (b06a282921c71bbc5cab69bc515804bd80f55e92) when used with -O0, this outputs: $ ./Ch fooabcbaz >From gcc 11 on when using -O1 or more it does not seem to initialize the "junk" buffer, so it may output random things: $ ./Ch foocbaz $ ./Ch foo�baz $ ./Ch foo+baz $ ./Ch foo baz $ ./Ch foo[baz I have seen the same behavior on both amd64 and sparc32, with distro compilers (openSUSE, Gentoo) as well as an unpatched gcc13 built with Gentoo ebuilds.