Making std::vector allocate aligned memory

Edit: I removed the inheritance of std::allocator as suggested by GManNickG and made the alignment parameter a compile time thing.

I recently wrote this piece of code. It's not tested as much as I would like it so go on and report errors. :-)

enum class Alignment : size_t
{
    Normal = sizeof(void*),
    SSE    = 16,
    AVX    = 32,
};


namespace detail {
    void* allocate_aligned_memory(size_t align, size_t size);
    void deallocate_aligned_memory(void* ptr) noexcept;
}


template <typename T, Alignment Align = Alignment::AVX>
class AlignedAllocator;


template <Alignment Align>
class AlignedAllocator<void, Align>
{
public:
    typedef void*             pointer;
    typedef const void*       const_pointer;
    typedef void              value_type;

    template <class U> struct rebind { typedef AlignedAllocator<U, Align> other; };
};


template <typename T, Alignment Align>
class AlignedAllocator
{
public:
    typedef T         value_type;
    typedef T*        pointer;
    typedef const T*  const_pointer;
    typedef T&        reference;
    typedef const T&  const_reference;
    typedef size_t    size_type;
    typedef ptrdiff_t difference_type;

    typedef std::true_type propagate_on_container_move_assignment;

    template <class U>
    struct rebind { typedef AlignedAllocator<U, Align> other; };

public:
    AlignedAllocator() noexcept
    {}

    template <class U>
    AlignedAllocator(const AlignedAllocator<U, Align>&) noexcept
    {}

    size_type
    max_size() const noexcept
    { return (size_type(~0) - size_type(Align)) / sizeof(T); }

    pointer
    address(reference x) const noexcept
    { return std::addressof(x); }

    const_pointer
    address(const_reference x) const noexcept
    { return std::addressof(x); }

    pointer
    allocate(size_type n, typename AlignedAllocator<void, Align>::const_pointer = 0)
    {
        const size_type alignment = static_cast<size_type>( Align );
        void* ptr = detail::allocate_aligned_memory(alignment , n * sizeof(T));
        if (ptr == nullptr) {
            throw std::bad_alloc();
        }

        return reinterpret_cast<pointer>(ptr);
    }

    void
    deallocate(pointer p, size_type) noexcept
    { return detail::deallocate_aligned_memory(p); }

    template <class U, class ...Args>
    void
    construct(U* p, Args&&... args)
    { ::new(reinterpret_cast<void*>(p)) U(std::forward<Args>(args)...); }

    void
    destroy(pointer p)
    { p->~T(); }
};


template <typename T, Alignment Align>
class AlignedAllocator<const T, Align>
{
public:
    typedef T         value_type;
    typedef const T*  pointer;
    typedef const T*  const_pointer;
    typedef const T&  reference;
    typedef const T&  const_reference;
    typedef size_t    size_type;
    typedef ptrdiff_t difference_type;

    typedef std::true_type propagate_on_container_move_assignment;

    template <class U>
    struct rebind { typedef AlignedAllocator<U, Align> other; };

public:
    AlignedAllocator() noexcept
    {}

    template <class U>
    AlignedAllocator(const AlignedAllocator<U, Align>&) noexcept
    {}

    size_type
    max_size() const noexcept
    { return (size_type(~0) - size_type(Align)) / sizeof(T); }

    const_pointer
    address(const_reference x) const noexcept
    { return std::addressof(x); }

    pointer
    allocate(size_type n, typename AlignedAllocator<void, Align>::const_pointer = 0)
    {
        const size_type alignment = static_cast<size_type>( Align );
        void* ptr = detail::allocate_aligned_memory(alignment , n * sizeof(T));
        if (ptr == nullptr) {
            throw std::bad_alloc();
        }

        return reinterpret_cast<pointer>(ptr);
    }

    void
    deallocate(pointer p, size_type) noexcept
    { return detail::deallocate_aligned_memory(p); }

    template <class U, class ...Args>
    void
    construct(U* p, Args&&... args)
    { ::new(reinterpret_cast<void*>(p)) U(std::forward<Args>(args)...); }

    void
    destroy(pointer p)
    { p->~T(); }
};

template <typename T, Alignment TAlign, typename U, Alignment UAlign>
inline
bool
operator== (const AlignedAllocator<T,TAlign>&, const AlignedAllocator<U, UAlign>&) noexcept
{ return TAlign == UAlign; }

template <typename T, Alignment TAlign, typename U, Alignment UAlign>
inline
bool
operator!= (const AlignedAllocator<T,TAlign>&, const AlignedAllocator<U, UAlign>&) noexcept
{ return TAlign != UAlign; }

The implementation for the actual allocate calls is posix only but you can extent that easily.

void*
detail::allocate_aligned_memory(size_t align, size_t size)
{
    assert(align >= sizeof(void*));
    assert(nail::is_power_of_two(align));

    if (size == 0) {
        return nullptr;
    }

    void* ptr = nullptr;
    int rc = posix_memalign(&ptr, align, size);

    if (rc != 0) {
        return nullptr;
    }

    return ptr;
}


void
detail::deallocate_aligned_memory(void *ptr) noexcept
{
    return free(ptr);
}

Needs C++11, btw.

In the upcoming version 1.56, the Boost library will include Boost.Align. Among other memory alignment helpers it provides boost::alignment::aligned_allocator, which can be used a drop-in replacement for std::allocator and allows you to specify an alignment. See the documentation on https://boostorg.github.io/align/

Yes, it should be possible. If you put this question on google then you will get lots of sample code, below is some promising results:

https://bitbucket.org/marten/alignedallocator/wiki/Home

http://code.google.com/p/mastermind-strategy/source/browse/trunk/src/util/aligned_allocator.hpp?r=167

https://gist.github.com/1471329

Starting in C++17, just use std::vector<__m256i> or with any other aligned type. There's aligned version of operator new, it is used by std::allocator for aligned types (as well as by plain new-expression, so new __m256i[N] is also safe starting in C++17).

There's a comment by @MarcGlisse saying this, making this an answer to make it more visible.