1 files changed, 26 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/include/standard-headers/linux/virtio_balloon.h b/include/standard-headers/linux/virtio_balloon.h
index 799376d414..88ada1d048 100644
--- a/include/standard-headers/linux/virtio_balloon.h
+++ b/include/standard-headers/linux/virtio_balloon.h
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
  * LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
  * OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
  * SUCH DAMAGE. */
+#include "standard-headers/linux/types.h"
 #include "standard-headers/linux/virtio_ids.h"
 #include "standard-headers/linux/virtio_config.h"
 
@@ -51,9 +52,32 @@ struct virtio_balloon_config {
 #define VIRTIO_BALLOON_S_MEMTOT   5   /* Total amount of memory */
 #define VIRTIO_BALLOON_S_NR       6
 
+/*
+ * Memory statistics structure.
+ * Driver fills an array of these structures and passes to device.
+ *
+ * NOTE: fields are laid out in a way that would make compiler add padding
+ * between and after fields, so we have to use compiler-specific attributes to
+ * pack it, to disable this padding. This also often causes compiler to
+ * generate suboptimal code.
+ *
+ * We maintain this statistics structure format for backwards compatibility,
+ * but don't follow this example.
+ *
+ * If implementing a similar structure, do something like the below instead:
+ *     struct virtio_balloon_stat {
+ *         __virtio16 tag;
+ *         uint8_t reserved[6];
+ *         __virtio64 val;
+ *     };
+ *
+ * In other words, add explicit reserved fields to align field and
+ * structure boundaries at field size, avoiding compiler padding
+ * without the packed attribute.
+ */
 struct virtio_balloon_stat {
-	uint16_t tag;
-	uint64_t val;
+	__virtio16 tag;
+	__virtio64 val;
 } QEMU_PACKED;
 
 #endif /* _LINUX_VIRTIO_BALLOON_H */