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2206917SmariusPackage Overview for TestFloat Release 2a
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4206917SmariusJohn R. Hauser
5206917Smarius1998 December 16
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8206917SmariusTestFloat is a program for testing that a floating-point implementation
9206917Smariusconforms to the IEC/IEEE Standard for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic.
10206917SmariusTestFloat is distributed in the form of C source code.  The TestFloat
11206917Smariuspackage actually provides two related programs:
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13206917Smarius-- The `testfloat' program tests a system's floating-point for conformance
14206917Smarius   to the IEC/IEEE Standard.  This program uses the SoftFloat software
15206917Smarius   floating-point implementation as a basis for comparison.
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17206917Smarius-- The `testsoftfloat' program tests SoftFloat itself for conformance to
18206917Smarius   the IEC/IEEE Standard.  These tests are performed by comparing against a
19206917Smarius   separate, slower software floating-point that is included in the TestFloat
20206917Smarius   package.
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22206917SmariusTestFloat depends on SoftFloat, but SoftFloat is not included in the
23206917SmariusTestFloat package.  SoftFloat can be obtained through the Web page `http://
24206917SmariusHTTP.CS.Berkeley.EDU/~jhauser/arithmetic/SoftFloat.html'.
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26206917SmariusTestFloat is documented in three text files:
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28206917Smarius   testfloat.txt          Documentation for using the TestFloat programs
29206917Smarius                              (both `testfloat' and `testsoftfloat').
30206917Smarius   testfloat-source.txt   Documentation for porting and compiling TestFloat.
31206917Smarius   testfloat-history.txt  History of major changes to TestFloat.
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33206917SmariusThe following file is also provided:
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35206917Smarius   systemBugs.txt         Information about processor bugs found using
36206917Smarius                              TestFloat.
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38206917SmariusOther files in the package comprise the source code for TestFloat.
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40206917SmariusPlease be aware that some work is involved in porting this software to other
41206917Smariustargets.  It is not just a matter of getting `make' to complete without
42206917Smariuserror messages.  I would have written the code that way if I could, but
43206917Smariusthere are fundamental differences between systems that I can't make go away.
44206917SmariusYou should not attempt to compile the TestFloat sources without first
45206917Smariusreading `testfloat-source.txt'.
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47206917SmariusAt the time of this writing, the most up-to-date information about
48206917SmariusTestFloat and the latest release can be found at the Web page `http://
49206917SmariusHTTP.CS.Berkeley.EDU/~jhauser/arithmetic/TestFloat.html'.
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