In the Vulkan header vulkan.h there is a struct defined as
typedef struct VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR {
VkStructureType sType;
const void* pNext;
VkSwapchainCreateFlagsKHR flags;
VkSurfaceKHR surface;
uint32_t minImageCount;
VkFormat imageFormat;
VkColorSpaceKHR imageColorSpace;
VkExtent2D imageExtent;
uint32_t imageArrayLayers;
VkImageUsageFlags imageUsage;
VkSharingMode imageSharingMode;
uint32_t queueFamilyIndexCount;
const uint32_t* pQueueFamilyIndices;
VkSurfaceTransformFlagBitsKHR preTransform;
VkCompositeAlphaFlagBitsKHR compositeAlpha;
VkPresentModeKHR presentMode;
VkBool32 clipped;
VkSwapchainKHR oldSwapchain;
} VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR;
I've used the following code to see each field's alignment (Visual Studio 2015)
std::cout <<
"sType: " << offsetof(VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR, sType) << std::endl <<
"pNext: " << offsetof(VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR, pNext) << std::endl <<
"flags: " << offsetof(VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR, flags) << std::endl <<
"surface: " << offsetof(VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR, surface) << std::endl <<
"minImageCount: " << offsetof(VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR, minImageCount) << std::endl <<
"imageFormat: " << offsetof(VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR, imageFormat) << std::endl <<
"imageColorSpace: " << offsetof(VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR, imageColorSpace) << std::endl <<
"imageExtent: " << offsetof(VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR, imageExtent) << std::endl <<
"imageArrayLayers: " << offsetof(VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR, imageArrayLayers) << std::endl <<
"imageUsage: " << offsetof(VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR, imageUsage) << std::endl <<
"imageSharingMode: " << offsetof(VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR, imageSharingMode) << std::endl <<
"queueFamilyIndexCount: " << offsetof(VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR, queueFamilyIndexCount) << std::endl <<
"pQueueFamilyIndices: " << offsetof(VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR, pQueueFamilyIndices) << std::endl <<
"preTransform: " << offsetof(VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR, preTransform) << std::endl <<
"compositeAlpha: " << offsetof(VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR, compositeAlpha) << std::endl <<
"presentMode: " << offsetof(VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR, presentMode) << std::endl <<
"clipped: " << offsetof(VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR, clipped) << std::endl <<
"oldSwapchain: " << offsetof(VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR, oldSwapchain) << std::endl <<
std::endl;
And got these results
sType: 0
pNext: 8
flags: 16
surface: 24
minImageCount: 32
imageFormat: 36
imageColorSpace: 40
imageExtent: 44
imageArrayLayers: 52
imageUsageFlags: 56
imageSharingMode: 60
queueFamilyIndexCount: 64
pQueueFamilyIndices: 72
preTransform: 80
compositeAlpha: 84
presentMode: 88
clipped: 92
oldSwapchain: 96
Between the fields flags and surface there is an 8 byte gap, even though flags has an underlying type of uint32_t. The same is true with the fields queueFamilyIndexCount and pQueueFamilyIndices. Why do flags and queueFamilyIndexCount take up 8 bytes when they are only 4 bytes wide and every other field of type uint32_t takes up only 4 bytes? Is there something special about the memory alignment requirements at those offsets?
VkSurfaceKHR is a non-dispatchable handle. Which, by Vulkan's definitions, is a 64-bit integer. And therefore it must have 8-byte alignment.
When structures are being laid out, the compiler will ensure that each member gets the alignment that the type requires. If surface had come immediately after flags, it would not have 8-byte alignment. Thus, the compiler inserts 4 bytes of padding between the two.