How do I convert a big-endian struct to a little endian-struct?

Question

I have a binary file that was created on a unix machine. It\'s just a bunch of records written one after another. The record is defined something like this:

Answer 1

You also have to consider alignment differences between the two compilers. Each compiler is allowed to insert padding between members in a structure the best suits the architecture. So you really need to know:

• How the UNIX prog writes to the file
• If it is a binary copy of the object the exact layout of the structure.
• If it is a binary copy what the endian-ness of the source architecture.

This is why most programs (That I have seen (that need to be platform neutral)) serialize the data as a text stream that can be easily read by the standard iostreams.