1
2 *********************************
3 * Announcing FDLIBM Version 5.3 *
4 *********************************
5 ============================================================
6 FDLIBM
7 ============================================================
8 developed at Sun Microsystems, Inc.
9
10 What's new in FDLIBM 5.3?
11
12 CONFIGURE
13 To build FDLIBM, edit the supplied Makefile or create
14 a local Makefile by running "sh configure"
15 using the supplied configure script contributed by Nelson Beebe
16
17 BUGS FIXED
18
19 1. e_pow.c incorrect results when
20 x is very close to -1.0 and y is very large, e.g.
21 pow(-1.0000000000000002e+00,4.5035996273704970e+15) = 0
22 pow(-9.9999999999999978e-01,4.5035996273704970e+15) = 0
23 Correct results are close to -e and -1/e.
24
25 2. k_tan.c error was > 1 ulp target for FDLIBM
26 5.2: Worst error at least 1.45 ulp at
27 tan(1.7765241907548024E+269) = 1.7733884462610958E+16
28 5.3: Worst error 0.96 ulp
29
30 NOT FIXED YET
31
32 3. Compiler failure on non-standard code
33 Statements like
34 *(1+(int*)&t1) = 0;
35 are not standard C and cause some optimizing compilers (e.g. GCC)
36 to generate bad code under optimization. These cases
37 are to be addressed in the next release.
38
39 FDLIBM (Freely Distributable LIBM) is a C math library
40 for machines that support IEEE 754 floating-point arithmetic.
41 In this release, only double precision is supported.
42
43 FDLIBM is intended to provide a reasonably portable (see
44 assumptions below), reference quality (below one ulp for
45 major functions like sin,cos,exp,log) math library
46 (libm.a). For a copy of FDLIBM, please see
47 http://www.netlib.org/fdlibm/
48 or
49 http://www.validlab.com/software/
50
51 --------------
52 1. ASSUMPTIONS
53 --------------
54 FDLIBM (double precision version) assumes:
55 a. IEEE 754 style (if not precise compliance) arithmetic;
56 b. 32 bit 2's complement integer arithmetic;
57 c. Each double precision floating-point number must be in IEEE 754
58 double format, and that each number can be retrieved as two 32-bit
59 integers through the using of pointer bashing as in the example
60 below:
61
62 Example: let y = 2.0
63 double fp number y: 2.0
64 IEEE double format: 0x4000000000000000
65
66 Referencing y as two integers:
67 *(int*)&y,*(1+(int*)&y) = {0x40000000,0x0} (on sparc)
68 {0x0,0x40000000} (on 386)
69
70 Note: Four macros are defined in fdlibm.h to handle this kind of
71 retrieving:
72
73 __HI(x) the high part of a double x
74 (sign,exponent,the first 21 significant bits)
75 __LO(x) the least 32 significant bits of x
76 __HIp(x) same as __HI except that the argument is a pointer
77 to a double
78 __LOp(x) same as __LO except that the argument is a pointer
79 to a double
80
81 To ensure obtaining correct ordering, one must define __LITTLE_ENDIAN
82 during compilation for little endian machine (like 386,486). The
83 default is big endian.
84
85 If the behavior of pointer bashing is undefined, one may hack on the
86 macro in fdlibm.h.
87
88 d. IEEE exceptions may trigger "signals" as is common in Unix
89 implementations.
90
91 -------------------
92 2. EXCEPTION CASES
93 -------------------
94 All exception cases in the FDLIBM functions will be mapped
95 to one of the following four exceptions:
96
97 +-huge*huge, +-tiny*tiny, +-1.0/0.0, +-0.0/0.0
98 (overflow) (underflow) (divided-by-zero) (invalid)
99
100 For example, ieee_log(0) is a singularity and is thus mapped to
101 -1.0/0.0 = -infinity.
102 That is, FDLIBM's log will compute -one/zero and return the
103 computed value. On an IEEE machine, this will trigger the
104 divided-by-zero exception and a negative infinity is returned by
105 default.
106
107 Similarly, ieee_exp(-huge) will be mapped to tiny*tiny to generate
108 an underflow signal.
109
110
111 --------------------------------
112 3. STANDARD CONFORMANCE WRAPPER
113 --------------------------------
114 The default FDLIBM functions (compiled with -D_IEEE_LIBM flag)
115 are in "IEEE spirit" (i.e., return the most reasonable result in
116 floating-point arithmetic). If one wants FDLIBM to comply with
117 standards like SVID, X/OPEN, or POSIX/ANSI, then one can
118 create a multi-standard compliant FDLIBM. In this case, each
119 function in FDLIBM is actually a standard compliant wrapper
120 function.
121
122 File organization:
123 1. For FDLIBM's kernel (internal) function,
124 File name Entry point
125 ---------------------------
126 k_sin.c __kernel_sin
127 k_tan.c __kernel_tan
128 ---------------------------
129 2. For functions that have no standards conflict
130 File name Entry point
131 ---------------------------
132 s_sin.c sin
133 s_erf.c erf
134 ---------------------------
135 3. Ieee754 core functions
136 File name Entry point
137 ---------------------------
138 e_exp.c __ieee754_exp
139 e_sinh.c __ieee754_sinh
140 ---------------------------
141 4. Wrapper functions
142 File name Entry point
143 ---------------------------
144 w_exp.c exp
145 w_sinh.c sinh
146 ---------------------------
147
148 Wrapper functions will twist the result of the ieee754
149 function to comply to the standard specified by the value
150 of _LIB_VERSION
151 if _LIB_VERSION = _IEEE_, return the ieee754 result;
152 if _LIB_VERSION = _SVID_, return SVID result;
153 if _LIB_VERSION = _XOPEN_, return XOPEN result;
154 if _LIB_VERSION = _POSIX_, return POSIX/ANSI result.
155 (These are macros, see fdlibm.h for their definition.)
156
157
158 --------------------------------
159 4. HOW TO CREATE FDLIBM's libm.a
160 --------------------------------
161 There are two types of libm.a. One is IEEE only, and the other is
162 multi-standard compliant (supports IEEE,XOPEN,POSIX/ANSI,SVID).
163
164 To create the IEEE only libm.a, use
165 make "CFLAGS = -D_IEEE_LIBM"
166 This will create an IEEE libm.a, which is smaller in size, and
167 somewhat faster.
168
169 To create a multi-standard compliant libm, use
170 make "CFLAGS = -D_IEEE_MODE" --- multi-standard fdlibm: default
171 to IEEE
172 make "CFLAGS = -D_XOPEN_MODE" --- multi-standard fdlibm: default
173 to X/OPEN
174 make "CFLAGS = -D_POSIX_MODE" --- multi-standard fdlibm: default
175 to POSIX/ANSI
176 make "CFLAGS = -D_SVID3_MODE" --- multi-standard fdlibm: default
177 to SVID
178
179
180 Here is how one makes a SVID compliant libm.
181 Make the library by
182 make "CFLAGS = -D_SVID3_MODE".
183 The libm.a of FDLIBM will be multi-standard compliant and
184 _LIB_VERSION is initialized to the value _SVID_ .
185
186 example1:
187 ---------
188 main()
189 {
190 double ieee_y0();
191 printf("y0(1e300) = %1.20e\n",y0(1e300));
192 exit(0);
193 }
194
195 % cc example1.c libm.a
196 % a.out
197 y0: TLOSS error
198 ieee_y0(1e300) = 0.00000000000000000000e+00
199
200
201 It is possible to change the default standard in multi-standard
202 fdlibm. Here is an example of how to do it:
203 example2:
204 ---------
205 #include "fdlibm.h" /* must include FDLIBM's fdlibm.h */
206 main()
207 {
208 double ieee_y0();
209 _LIB_VERSION = _IEEE_;
210 printf("IEEE: ieee_y0(1e300) = %1.20e\n",y0(1e300));
211 _LIB_VERSION = _XOPEN_;
212 printf("XOPEN ieee_y0(1e300) = %1.20e\n",y0(1e300));
213 _LIB_VERSION = _POSIX_;
214 printf("POSIX ieee_y0(1e300) = %1.20e\n",y0(1e300));
215 _LIB_VERSION = _SVID_;
216 printf("SVID ieee_y0(1e300) = %1.20e\n",y0(1e300));
217 exit(0);
218 }
219
220 % cc example2.c libm.a
221 % a.out
222 IEEE: ieee_y0(1e300) = -1.36813604503424810557e-151
223 XOPEN ieee_y0(1e300) = 0.00000000000000000000e+00
224 POSIX ieee_y0(1e300) = 0.00000000000000000000e+00
225 y0: TLOSS error
226 SVID ieee_y0(1e300) = 0.00000000000000000000e+00
227
228 Note: Here _LIB_VERSION is a global variable. If global variables
229 are forbidden, then one should modify fdlibm.h to change
230 _LIB_VERSION to be a global constant. In this case, one
231 may not change the value of _LIB_VERSION as in example2.
232
233 ---------------------------
234 5. NOTES ON PORTING FDLIBM
235 ---------------------------
236 Care must be taken when installing FDLIBM over existing
237 libm.a.
238 All co-existing function prototypes must agree, otherwise
239 users will encounter mysterious failures.
240
241 So far, the only known likely conflict is the declaration
242 of the IEEE recommended function scalb:
243
244 double ieee_scalb(double,double) (1) SVID3 defined
245 double ieee_scalb(double,int) (2) IBM,DEC,...
246
247 FDLIBM follows Sun definition and use (1) as default.
248 If one's existing libm.a uses (2), then one may raise
249 the flags _SCALB_INT during the compilation of FDLIBM
250 to get the correct function prototype.
251 (E.g., make "CFLAGS = -D_IEEE_LIBM -D_SCALB_INT".)
252 NOTE that if -D_SCALB_INT is raised, it won't be SVID3
253 conformant.
254
255 --------------
256 6. PROBLEMS ?
257 --------------
258 Please send comments and bug reports to the electronic mail address
259 suggested by:
260 fdlibm-comments AT sun.com
261
262