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Package Overview for SoftFloat Release 2b
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John R. Hauser
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2002 May 27
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Overview
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SoftFloat is a software implementation of floating-point that conforms to
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the IEC/IEEE Standard for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic. SoftFloat is
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distributed in the form of C source code. Compiling the SoftFloat sources
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generates two things:
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-- A SoftFloat object file (typically `softfloat.o') containing the complete
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set of IEC/IEEE floating-point routines.
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-- A `timesoftfloat' program for evaluating the speed of the SoftFloat
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routines. (The SoftFloat module is linked into this program.)
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The SoftFloat package is documented in four text files:
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SoftFloat.txt Documentation for using the SoftFloat functions.
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SoftFloat-source.txt Documentation for compiling SoftFloat.
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SoftFloat-history.txt History of major changes to SoftFloat.
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timesoftfloat.txt Documentation for using `timesoftfloat'.
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Other files in the package comprise the source code for SoftFloat.
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Please be aware that some work is involved in porting this software to other
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targets. It is not just a matter of getting `make' to complete without
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error messages. I would have written the code that way if I could, but
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there are fundamental differences between systems that can't be hidden.
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You should not attempt to compile SoftFloat without first reading both
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`SoftFloat.txt' and `SoftFloat-source.txt'.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Legal Notice
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SoftFloat was written by me, John R. Hauser. This work was made possible in
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part by the International Computer Science Institute, located at Suite 600,
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1947 Center Street, Berkeley, California 94704. Funding was partially
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provided by the National Science Foundation under grant MIP-9311980. The
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original version of this code was written as part of a project to build
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a fixed-point vector processor in collaboration with the University of
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California at Berkeley, overseen by Profs. Nelson Morgan and John Wawrzynek.
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THIS SOFTWARE IS DISTRIBUTED AS IS, FOR FREE. Although reasonable effort
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has been made to avoid it, THIS SOFTWARE MAY CONTAIN FAULTS THAT WILL AT
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TIMES RESULT IN INCORRECT BEHAVIOR. USE OF THIS SOFTWARE IS RESTRICTED TO
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PERSONS AND ORGANIZATIONS WHO CAN AND WILL TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL
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LOSSES, COSTS, OR OTHER PROBLEMS THEY INCUR DUE TO THE SOFTWARE, AND WHO
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FURTHERMORE EFFECTIVELY INDEMNIFY JOHN HAUSER AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMPUTER
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SCIENCE INSTITUTE (possibly via similar legal warning) AGAINST ALL LOSSES,
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COSTS, OR OTHER PROBLEMS INCURRED BY THEIR CUSTOMERS AND CLIENTS DUE TO THE
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SOFTWARE.
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Derivative works are acceptable, even for commercial purposes, provided
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that the minimal documentation requirements stated in the source code are
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satisfied.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Contact Information
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At the time of this writing, the most up-to-date information about
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SoftFloat and the latest release can be found at the Web page `http://
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www.cs.berkeley.edu/~jhauser/arithmetic/SoftFloat.html'.
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