Bug#724320: gmp: x32: sizeof(mp_limb_t)!=sizeof(void*) is not supported by GAP and PARI

[Steve M. Robbins]

Bill,

Thanks for clarifying the issue.


On Mon, Sep 23, 2013 at 08:14:58PM +0200, Bill Allombert wrote:

> Admittedly, this is a bug in pari and gap for having such requirement. However,
> it seems unlikely to be ever fixed, hence this report.
> 
> Using 8 should result in a faster library, so this is a trade-off, even if I
> do not expect that people will use x32 for HPC.

OK, so this trade-off is the real issue.  What is the best choice?  

On the one hand, 8 should be faster but how much faster?  Enough to
matter?  If not, the choice is clear: switch to 4.  

If the speed difference matters, then the question is whether pari and
gap are important enough to x32 that we should accept the lower speed.
I don't know, myself, but my gut instinct is to leave the size at 8
and exclude x32 from the architectures for pari and gap.

For now, I'll leave this bug open for opinions.

Thanks,
-Steve
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