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Date:      Wed, 17 Dec 1997 00:26:34 +0100 (MET)
From:      Oliver Fromme <olli@dorifer.heim3.tu-clausthal.de>
To:        freebsd-sparc@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Data types (was: Re: FAQ FreeBSD-Sparc [frequent posting])
Message-ID:  <199712162326.AAA13925@dorifer.heim3.tu-clausthal.de>

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In list.freebsd-sparc perhaps@yes.no wrote:
 > > Assumptions about the size of int will need fixed.
 > 
 > OK, what assumptions are correct on UltraSPARC?  (Here comes a set of
 > possible assumptions; could you try to say which are wrong, and I'll
 > try to fix the places where some of them occur?)
 > [...]

On DEC Alpha (at least with DEC's cc), the following is true:
  - sizeof(short) == 2
  - sizeof(int)   == 4
  - sizeof(long)  == 8
  - sizeof(void*) == 8
Which is a good choice, IMHO.  I don't think it is a problem to
have sizeof(int) != sizeof(void*), at least I haven't had any
problems with that on Alphas.  Software which assumes that ints
and pointers are of equal size is broken anyway.

On the other hand, I don't know how efficient it is to access
32 bit units on the UltraSparc, compared to 64 bit units.
If 32 bit accesses involve a penalty (especially if they are
not 64-bit-aligned), it might be worth to use sizeof(int) =
sizeof(long) = 8.

Is there a special version of gcc for UltraSparc?  If so, we
will have to use its idea of the data type sizes, I'm afraid,
so there's no choice.

Just my 2 cents...

Regards
   Oliver

-- 
Oliver Fromme, Leibnizstr. 18-61, 38678 Clausthal, Germany
(Info: finger userinfo:olli@dorifer.heim3.tu-clausthal.de)



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