[SOLVED] Arduino Nano ATmega328P C++; unsigned 8bit shift right generates 16bit code. This wastes time and memory. Can this be fixed or avoided?

Arduino Nano ATmega328P C++; unsigned 8bit shift right generates 16bit code. This wastes time and memory. Can this be fixed or avoided?

With an Arduino Nano ATmega328P (Arduino IDE 1.8), the following C++ code (with 8bit operands):

  volatile uint8_t un8 = 123;
  volatile uint8_t res8;
  res8 = un8 >> 1;

generates a 16bit shift (via avr-gcc (GCC) 5.4.0)

  volatile uint8_t un8 = 123;
 218:   ba 82           std Y+2, r11    ; 0x02
../StrangeShiftRightCode/StrangeShiftRightCode.ino:21
  volatile uint8_t res8;
  res8 = un8 >> 1;
 21a:   8a 81           ldd r24, Y+2    ; 0x02
 21c:   90 e0           ldi r25, 0x00   ; 0
 21e:   95 95           asr r25
 220:   87 95           ror r24
 222:   89 83           std Y+1, r24    ; 0x01

which seems to waste both time and space. Can this be fixed? Or is there some option to be less wasteful?

Solution

Yes, it has been fixed. But Ubuntu 20.04 doesn't 'see' anything modern enough to download/update.

Ironically, with the [faulty] compiler I'm using,

 my_uint8_t / 2

generates the code I want (single 8-bit shift),

Whilst my "better than dividing by 2 code" I used back in the 80's,

 my_uint8_t >> 1

generates more (and unnecessary) assembler code.