Sharing binary data between VC++ and G++ programs (Windows and Linux)

[Oddvard Myrnes]

I need to share binary data files between Windows (VC++) and Linux
(G++) programs. The Windows program is a third party vendor product
which uses default aligment when buildt. On Windows the default is
double word aligment. This causes a problem when I try to read data
into my Linux program. The datastructures have diffrent lengths. If I
include the -malign-double compiler flag on my Linux box to rectify
the problem, I experience crashes in stdlib. Eg. fstream functions
crashes.

Ref: http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc-help/2001-03/msg00219.html

Q: If I want to use the -malign-double flag do I have to recompile the
GCC
distrubution from scratch with the -malign-flag set?

Regards
Oddvard Myrnes

PS: Merry X-mas to you all :-)