[uecker]

Actually, the spec does not say exactly "the language spec can't guarantee anything". It says "undefined behavior --- behavior, upon use of a nonportable or erroneous program construct or of erroneous data, for which this document imposes no requirements." So it says "no requirements" but this refers specifically ("for which") to the behavior in question and not the whole program. This implies that preceding observable behavior can not be affected. (but non-observable behavior can according to the "as-if" rule and this is sufficient for optimization). We added a note to clarify this in C23.