Re: PDP-10 port

[Lars Brinkhoff]

Andreas Jaeger <address@hidden> writes:
> Lars Brinkhoff <address@hidden> writes:
> > I will probably soon start working on porting glibc to the PDP-10
> > architecture running the TOPS-20 operating system.
> That looks like fun, I fear you need to put quite some work into it.

Yes, that's expected.

Do you (or anyone else) know to what extent the necessary
modifications could be accepted back into GNU libc?  To give an idea
of the obstacles to overcome:

* The PDP-10 is word-addressed, so there are very strict alignment
  requirements.

* The word size is 36 bits, so int is 36, short 18, and char 9 bits.
  (Support for 8/16/32-bit types in the GCC port may help with this.)

* The Linux/VAX people reports that the library expect IEEE floating
  point types, which are not supported in hardware on the PDP-10.

Finally, anything in particular I should do to prepare myself for the
port?  Any mailing lists subscriptions recommended?  I have browsed
through the manual and the FAQ.

-- 
Lars Brinkhoff          http://lars.nocrew.org/     Linux, GCC, PDP-10,
Brinkhoff Consulting    http://www.brinkhoff.se/    HTTP programming