There are (at least) two ways in which the reinterpret_cast is misused:

1. Used instead of static_cast:
   

   cudf/cpp/src/io/avro/avro_gpu.cu

   Line 95 in f7fbc11

   dataptr = reinterpret_cast<uint8_t *>(schema[i].dataptr);

   
   static cast should be used to cast from void*.
2. The use causes undefined behavior:
   

   cudf/cpp/src/io/avro/avro_gpu.cu

   Line 112 in f7fbc11

   reinterpret_cast<int32_t *>(dataptr)[row] = static_cast<int32_t>(v);

   
   

   cudf/cpp/src/io/avro/avro_gpu.cu

   Lines 131 to 132 in f7fbc11

   	reinterpret_cast<nvstrdesc_s *>(dataptr)[row].ptr = ptr;
   	reinterpret_cast<nvstrdesc_s *>(dataptr)[row].count = count;

   
   These uses break the type aliasing rules as they cast between pointers to types that are not similar.

Proposed solution:

• Use static_cast where appropriate.
• Buffers whose data type is not known at compile time (input/output buffers usually) should be of type void* instead of uint8_t*, as they commonly are now.
  • Addition of a hostdevice_buffer type might be beneficial here.
• Where the options above are not applicable, use std::memcpy instead of the cast.