xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/softfloat/README.txt (revision 05248206f720394d95c2a7475429311df670a2e9)
115144b0fSOlivier Houchard$NetBSD: README.txt,v 1.1 2000/06/06 08:15:02 bjh21 Exp $
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315144b0fSOlivier HouchardPackage Overview for SoftFloat Release 2a
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515144b0fSOlivier HouchardJohn R. Hauser
615144b0fSOlivier Houchard1998 December 13
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915144b0fSOlivier HouchardSoftFloat is a software implementation of floating-point that conforms to
1015144b0fSOlivier Houchardthe IEC/IEEE Standard for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic.  SoftFloat is
1115144b0fSOlivier Houcharddistributed in the form of C source code.  Compiling the SoftFloat sources
1215144b0fSOlivier Houchardgenerates two things:
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1415144b0fSOlivier Houchard-- A SoftFloat object file (typically `softfloat.o') containing the complete
1515144b0fSOlivier Houchard   set of IEC/IEEE floating-point routines.
1615144b0fSOlivier Houchard
1715144b0fSOlivier Houchard-- A `timesoftfloat' program for evaluating the speed of the SoftFloat
1815144b0fSOlivier Houchard   routines.  (The SoftFloat module is linked into this program.)
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2015144b0fSOlivier HouchardThe SoftFloat package is documented in four text files:
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2215144b0fSOlivier Houchard   softfloat.txt          Documentation for using the SoftFloat functions.
2315144b0fSOlivier Houchard   softfloat-source.txt   Documentation for compiling SoftFloat.
2415144b0fSOlivier Houchard   softfloat-history.txt  History of major changes to SoftFloat.
2515144b0fSOlivier Houchard   timesoftfloat.txt      Documentation for using `timesoftfloat'.
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2715144b0fSOlivier HouchardOther files in the package comprise the source code for SoftFloat.
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2915144b0fSOlivier HouchardPlease be aware that some work is involved in porting this software to other
3015144b0fSOlivier Houchardtargets.  It is not just a matter of getting `make' to complete without
3115144b0fSOlivier Houcharderror messages.  I would have written the code that way if I could, but
3215144b0fSOlivier Houchardthere are fundamental differences between systems that I can't make go away.
3315144b0fSOlivier HouchardYou should not attempt to compile SoftFloat without first reading both
3415144b0fSOlivier Houchard`softfloat.txt' and `softfloat-source.txt'.
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3615144b0fSOlivier HouchardAt the time of this writing, the most up-to-date information about
3715144b0fSOlivier HouchardSoftFloat and the latest release can be found at the Web page `http://
3815144b0fSOlivier HouchardHTTP.CS.Berkeley.EDU/~jhauser/arithmetic/SoftFloat.html'.
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