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Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2020 20:15:40 +0200
From: Markus Wichmann <nullplan@....net>
To: musl@...ts.openwall.com
Subject: Re: Posits support under Musl libc?
On Mon, Jun 29, 2020 at 06:26:42PM +0200, Szabolcs Nagy wrote:
> i would not hold my breath for posit support even if it was the
> best possible floating-point format.
>
> it has to be properly standardized and added to hw architectures.
>
> then the related software standards need to be developed (abi,
> programming language support, math library behaviour for special
> cases, printf format specifiers, etc)
>
> then the tooling support has to be added (compilers, emulators,
> softfloat libraries, etc)
>
> then we can come back and consider doing something about it in
> musl.
>
> (and even then it will take time for it to be usable in user
> code: requires widely deployed hw, protocol and file format
> updates, new algorithm designs and review of existing algorithms
> for compatibility)
In addition, Posit support is going to run into the problem that IEEE
754 implementations are readily available /right now/ and are "good
enough" for most applications. Hell, most applications don't even
require floating-point at all. The good can sometimes be the enemy of
the perfect, but here I am squarely on the side of pragmatism.
Ciao,
Markus
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