offsetof() of nested C struct in C++ - c++

Question

I'm trying to add a socket filter to one of my sockets in C++ (Linux). In the socket filter I need to get the offset of struct fork_proc_event, which is nested within another structure. The definition looks like this (cn_proc.h):
struct proc_event {
...
union {
...
struct fork_proc_event {
__kernel_pid_t parent_pid;
...
} fork;
...
} event_data;
...
};
In C I would do this:
int off = offsetof(struct fork_proc_event, parent_pid);
However I'm developing in C++. If I try to do this:
int off = offsetof(proc_event::fork_proc_event, parent_pid);
I get the following error:
error: expected type-specifier
error: expected `,'
error: expected `)' before ',' token
How should the offsetof() line look like?

Answer 1

It may help to think of how an implementation of an offsetof macro might go. Here's one example:
#define offsetof(TYPE, MEMBER) \
((uintptr_t)&(((TYPE*)0)->MEMBER))
In other words, using 0 as a pointer to the type you're interested in, and simply taking the address of the struct field...
So if you wanted the offset of parent_pid relative to fork (which is how I initially parsed your question):
((char*)&((struct proc_event*)0)->event_data.fork.parent_pid) - ((char*)&((struct proc_event*)0)->event_data.fork)
On second reading it sounds like you might just want the offset of parent_pid relative to the start of struct proc_event. Adapting the example above that would be:
((uintptr_t)&((struct proc_event*)0)->event_data.fork.parent_pid)

Answer 2

I don't exactly understand the need for all those hacks, when all you have to do is give a name to your nested union type. Any name, just to be able to refer to it in C++ code
struct proc_event {
...
union whatever {
...
struct fork_proc_event {
__kernel_pid_t parent_pid;
...
} fork;
...
} event_data;
...
};
Then you'll be able to refer to it as proc_event::whatever::fork_proc_event in offsetof in C++ code
size_t off = offsetof(proc_event::whatever::fork_proc_event, parent_pid);
If you are interested in offset of parent_pid from the beginning of proc_event, you can do
size_t off = offsetof(proc_event, event_data.fork.parent_pid);
If you cannot change the declaration, you can calculate the offset of parent_pid inside fork_proc_event by doing
size_t off =
offsetof(proc_event, event_data.fork.parent_pid) -
offsetof(proc_event, event_data.fork);
(Although I can't say right away whether the last two are formally legal examples of offsetof usage, they will normally work in practice without any problems.)