MAME note: this package is derived from the following original SoftFloat package and has been "re-packaged" to work with MAME's conventions and build system. The source files come from bits64/ and bits64/templates in the original distribution as MAME requires a compiler with a 64-bit integer type. Package Overview for SoftFloat Release 2b John R. Hauser 2002 May 27 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Overview SoftFloat is a software implementation of floating-point that conforms to the IEC/IEEE Standard for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic. SoftFloat is distributed in the form of C source code. Compiling the SoftFloat sources generates two things: -- A SoftFloat object file (typically `softfloat.o') containing the complete set of IEC/IEEE floating-point routines. -- A `timesoftfloat' program for evaluating the speed of the SoftFloat routines. (The SoftFloat module is linked into this program.) The SoftFloat package is documented in four text files: SoftFloat.txt Documentation for using the SoftFloat functions. SoftFloat-source.txt Documentation for compiling SoftFloat. SoftFloat-history.txt History of major changes to SoftFloat. timesoftfloat.txt Documentation for using `timesoftfloat'. Other files in the package comprise the source code for SoftFloat. Please be aware that some work is involved in porting this software to other targets. It is not just a matter of getting `make' to complete without error messages. I would have written the code that way if I could, but there are fundamental differences between systems that can't be hidden. You should not attempt to compile SoftFloat without first reading both `SoftFloat.txt' and `SoftFloat-source.txt'. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Legal Notice SoftFloat was written by me, John R. Hauser. This work was made possible in part by the International Computer Science Institute, located at Suite 600, 1947 Center Street, Berkeley, California 94704. Funding was partially provided by the National Science Foundation under grant MIP-9311980. The original version of this code was written as part of a project to build a fixed-point vector processor in collaboration with the University of California at Berkeley, overseen by Profs. Nelson Morgan and John Wawrzynek. THIS SOFTWARE IS DISTRIBUTED AS IS, FOR FREE. Although reasonable effort has been made to avoid it, THIS SOFTWARE MAY CONTAIN FAULTS THAT WILL AT TIMES RESULT IN INCORRECT BEHAVIOR. USE OF THIS SOFTWARE IS RESTRICTED TO PERSONS AND ORGANIZATIONS WHO CAN AND WILL TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL LOSSES, COSTS, OR OTHER PROBLEMS THEY INCUR DUE TO THE SOFTWARE, AND WHO FURTHERMORE EFFECTIVELY INDEMNIFY JOHN HAUSER AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMPUTER SCIENCE INSTITUTE (possibly via similar legal warning) AGAINST ALL LOSSES, COSTS, OR OTHER PROBLEMS INCURRED BY THEIR CUSTOMERS AND CLIENTS DUE TO THE SOFTWARE. Derivative works are acceptable, even for commercial purposes, provided that the minimal documentation requirements stated in the source code are satisfied. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact Information At the time of this writing, the most up-to-date information about SoftFloat and the latest release can be found at the Web page `http:// www.cs.berkeley.edu/~jhauser/arithmetic/SoftFloat.html'.