Re: MATH_EMULATE

["Perry E. Metzger" <perry%piermont.com@localhost>]

Alan Barrett <apb%cequrux.com@localhost> writes:
> I haven't checked how rescue is linked, but I think that it would be
> more useful if it were linked against libraries that worked with the
> least-capable hardware we support.  In the particular case of the i386
> port and FPU support, this implies that it should use the soft float
> version of libm.  The same applies to programs in install ramdisk
> images.

Unfortunately those are also significantly larger, and only a very
small percentage of users (which is dropping all the time) would want
that.

I'm starting to lean in favor of a soft float compilation option for
the x86 for such cases.

> On a related issue, it might make sense to avoid floating point
> operations in rescue and in install ramdisk images.  In the particular
> case of ping, the floating point code could be made conditional
> on #ifdef SMALLPROG or the like, or (with a lot more effort) the
> calculations could be done in integer arithmetic.

I'm not sure that is worth the effort for the tiny number of machines
it would help...

-- 
Perry E. Metzger                perry%piermont.com@localhost