README.txt revision 207151
11638Srgrimes 21638SrgrimesPackage Overview for TestFloat Release 2a 31638Srgrimes 41638SrgrimesJohn R. Hauser 51638Srgrimes1998 December 16 61638Srgrimes 71638Srgrimes 81638SrgrimesTestFloat is a program for testing that a floating-point implementation 91638Srgrimesconforms to the IEC/IEEE Standard for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic. 101638SrgrimesTestFloat is distributed in the form of C source code. The TestFloat 111638Srgrimespackage actually provides two related programs: 121638Srgrimes 131638Srgrimes-- The `testfloat' program tests a system's floating-point for conformance 141638Srgrimes to the IEC/IEEE Standard. This program uses the SoftFloat software 151638Srgrimes floating-point implementation as a basis for comparison. 161638Srgrimes 171638Srgrimes-- The `testsoftfloat' program tests SoftFloat itself for conformance to 181638Srgrimes the IEC/IEEE Standard. These tests are performed by comparing against a 191638Srgrimes separate, slower software floating-point that is included in the TestFloat 201638Srgrimes package. 211638Srgrimes 221638SrgrimesTestFloat depends on SoftFloat, but SoftFloat is not included in the 231638SrgrimesTestFloat package. SoftFloat can be obtained through the Web page `http:// 241638SrgrimesHTTP.CS.Berkeley.EDU/~jhauser/arithmetic/SoftFloat.html'. 251638Srgrimes 261638SrgrimesTestFloat is documented in three text files: 271638Srgrimes 281638Srgrimes testfloat.txt Documentation for using the TestFloat programs 291638Srgrimes (both `testfloat' and `testsoftfloat'). 301638Srgrimes testfloat-source.txt Documentation for porting and compiling TestFloat. 311638Srgrimes testfloat-history.txt History of major changes to TestFloat. 321638Srgrimes 331638SrgrimesThe following file is also provided: 341638Srgrimes 351638Srgrimes systemBugs.txt Information about processor bugs found using 361638Srgrimes TestFloat. 371638Srgrimes 381638SrgrimesOther files in the package comprise the source code for TestFloat. 391638Srgrimes 401638SrgrimesPlease be aware that some work is involved in porting this software to other 411638Srgrimestargets. It is not just a matter of getting `make' to complete without 421638Srgrimeserror messages. I would have written the code that way if I could, but 431638Srgrimesthere are fundamental differences between systems that I can't make go away. 441638SrgrimesYou should not attempt to compile the TestFloat sources without first 451638Srgrimesreading `testfloat-source.txt'. 461638Srgrimes 471638SrgrimesAt the time of this writing, the most up-to-date information about 481638SrgrimesTestFloat and the latest release can be found at the Web page `http:// 491638SrgrimesHTTP.CS.Berkeley.EDU/~jhauser/arithmetic/TestFloat.html'. 501638Srgrimes 511638Srgrimes