What does the C compiler do with bitfields?

Question

I'm working on an embedded project (PowerPC target, Freescale Metrowerks Codewarrior compiler) where the registers are memory-mapped and defined in nice bitfields to make twiddling the individual bit flags easy.

At the moment, we are using this feature to clear interrupt flags and control data transfer. Although I haven't noticed any bugs yet, I was curious if this is safe. Is there some way to safely use bit fields, or do I need to wrap each in DISABLE_INTERRUPTS ... ENABLE_INTERRUPTS?

To clarify: the header supplied with the micro has fields like

union {
        vuint16_t R;
        struct {
            vuint16_t MTM:1;        /* message buffer transmission mode */
            vuint16_t CHNLA:1;      /* channel assignement */
            vuint16_t CHNLB:1;      /* channel assignement */
            vuint16_t CCFE:1;       /* cycle counter filter enable */
            vuint16_t CCFMSK:6;     /* cycle counter filter mask */
            vuint16_t CCFVAL:6;     /* cycle counter filter value */
        } B;
    } MBCCFR;

I assume setting a bit in a bitfield is not atomic. Is this a correct assumption? What kind of code does the compiler actually generate for bitfields? Performing the mask myself using the R (raw) field might make it easier to remember that the operation is not atomic (it is easy to forget that an assignment like CAN_A.IMASK1.B.BUF00M = 1 isn't atomic).

Your advice is appreciated.

Answer 1

Atomicity depends on the target and the compiler. AVR-GCC for example trys to detect bit access and emit bit set or clear instructions if possible. Check the assembler output to be sure ...

EDIT: Here is a resource for atomic instructions on PowerPC directly from the horse's mouth:

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/pa-atom/