printf alternative when using "define _GNU_SOURCE" - serial-port

Question

After reading https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-bypass-the-OS-buffering-during-I-O-in-Linux I want to try to access data on the serial port with the O_DIRECT option, but the only way I can seem to do that is by adding the GNU_SOURCE define but when I tried to execute the program, nothing at all is printed on the screen.
If I remove "#define _GNU_SOURCE" and compile, then the system gives me an error on O_DIRECT.
If I remove the define and the O_DIRECT flag, then incorrect (possibly outdated) data is always read, but the data is printed on the screen.
I still want to use the O_DIRECT flag and be able to see the data, so I feel I need an alternative command to printf and friends, but I don't know how to continue.
I attached the code below:
#define _GNU_SOURCE
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <termios.h>
#define TIMEOUT 5
int main(){
char inb[3]; //our byte buffer
int nread=0; //number bytes read from port
int n; //counter
int iosz=128; //Lets get 128 bytes
int fd=open("/dev/ttyS0", O_NOCTTY | O_RDONLY | O_SYNC | O_DIRECT); //Open port
tcflush(fd,TCIOFLUSH);
for(n=0;n<iosz;n++){
int s=time(NULL); //Start timer for 5 seconds
while (time(NULL)-s < TIMEOUT && nread < 1){
inb[0]='A'; //Fill buffer with bad data
inb[1]='B';
inb[2]='C';
nread=read(fd,(char*)inb,1); //Read ONE byte
tcflush(fd,TCIOFLUSH);
if (nread < 0 || time(NULL)-s >= TIMEOUT){
close(fd); //Exit if read error or timeout
return -1;
}
}
printf("%x:%d ",inb[0] & 0xFF,nread); //Print byte as we receive it
}
close(fd); //program ends so close and exit
printf("\n"); //Print byte as we receive it
return 0;
}

Answer 1

First off, I'm no expert on this topic, just curious about it, so take this answer with a pinch of salt.
I don't know if what you're trying to do here (if I'm not looking at it the wrong way it seems to be to bypass the kernel and read directly from the port to userspace) was ever a possibility (you can find some examples, like this one but I could not find anything properly documented) but with recent kernels you should be getting an error running your code, but you're not catching it.
If you add these lines after declaring your port:
...
int fd=open("/dev/ttyS0", O_NOCTTY | O_RDONLY | O_SYNC | O_DIRECT );
if (fd == -1) {
fprintf(stderr, "Error %d opening SERIALPORT : %s\n", errno, strerror(errno));
return 1;
}
tcflush(fd,TCIOFLUSH);
....
When you try to run you'll get: Error 22 opening SERIALPORT : Invalid argument
In my humble and limited understanding, you should be able to get the same effect changing the settings on termios to raw, something like this should do:
struct termios t;
tcgetattr(fd, &t); /* get current port state */
cfmakeraw(&t); /* set port state to raw */
tcsetattr(fd, TCSAFLUSH, &t); /* set updated port state */
There are many good sources for termios, but the only place I could find taht also refers to O_DIRECT (for files) is this one.