Training courses

Kernel and Embedded Linux

Bootlin training courses

Embedded Linux, kernel,
Yocto Project, Buildroot, real-time,
graphics, boot time, debugging...

Bootlin logo

Elixir Cross Referencer


Known Floating-point Bugs Detected by TestFloat

John R. Hauser
1997 December 15


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Introduction

Several popular systems have bugs that TestFloat is very likely to run
across.  The ones I know of are documented here.  First off, TestFloat finds
no errors in the following processors/machines:

    AMD 486 DX4's
    Sun UltraSPARC 1's and 2's

On the other hand, bugs are found in these processors/machines:

    Older Intel Pentiums (with the divide bug)
    Intel Pentium Pros
    Sun SPARCstation 1's and IPX's
    Sun SPARCstation 10's
    HP Precision Architecture processors, with HP-UX prior to version 10.10

For some reason, most of the bugs found involve conversions from floating-
point to integer formats.

The bugs are shown as actual TestFloat error lines, along with a brief
explanation.  The error lines given are not necessarily exhaustive and were
not necessarily output in the order shown.

This document does not pretend to be an authoritative bug listing for all
commercial processors.  The vast majority of processors are absent from this
list because I have never run TestFloat on such machines and I thus have no
knowledge of what bugs TestFloat might find in them.

The latest version of this file can be found at the Web page `http://
http.cs.berkeley.edu/~jhauser/arithmetic/testfloat.html'.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Older Intel Pentiums (with the divide bug)

The following conversion problems are found on Pentiums that also suffer
from the infamous floating-point divide bug.  These bugs have been fixed on
newer Pentiums.  (TestFloat does not find the divide bug.)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
floatx80_to_int32

-- A few small fractions are treated as though they were zero.

	Errors found in floatx80_to_int32, rounding nearest_even:
	3FFB.8000000000000000  soft: 00000000 ....x  syst: 00000000 .....
	3FFC.8000000000000000  soft: 00000000 ....x  syst: 00000000 .....
	3FFC.C000000000000000  soft: 00000000 ....x  syst: 00000000 .....
	BFFB.8000000000000000  soft: 00000000 ....x  syst: 00000000 .....
	BFFC.8000000000000000  soft: 00000000 ....x  syst: 00000000 .....
	Errors found in floatx80_to_int32, rounding to_zero:
	3FFB.8000000000000000  soft: 00000000 ....x  syst: 00000000 .....
	3FFC.8000000000000000  soft: 00000000 ....x  syst: 00000000 .....
	3FFC.C000000000000000  soft: 00000000 ....x  syst: 00000000 .....
	BFFB.8000000000000000  soft: 00000000 ....x  syst: 00000000 .....
	BFFC.8000000000000000  soft: 00000000 ....x  syst: 00000000 .....
	BFFC.C000000000000000  soft: 00000000 ....x  syst: 00000000 .....
	Errors found in floatx80_to_int32, rounding down:
	3FFB.8000000000000000  soft: 00000000 ....x  syst: 00000000 .....
	3FFC.8000000000000000  soft: 00000000 ....x  syst: 00000000 .....
	3FFC.C000000000000000  soft: 00000000 ....x  syst: 00000000 .....
	BFFB.8000000000000000  soft: FFFFFFFF ....x  syst: 00000000 .....
	BFFC.8000000000000000  soft: FFFFFFFF ....x  syst: 00000000 .....
	BFFC.C000000000000000  soft: FFFFFFFF ....x  syst: 00000000 .....
	Errors found in floatx80_to_int32, rounding up:
	3FFB.8000000000000000  soft: 00000001 ....x  syst: 00000000 .....
	3FFC.8000000000000000  soft: 00000001 ....x  syst: 00000000 .....
	3FFC.C000000000000000  soft: 00000001 ....x  syst: 00000000 .....
	BFFB.8000000000000000  soft: 00000000 ....x  syst: 00000000 .....
	BFFC.8000000000000000  soft: 00000000 ....x  syst: 00000000 .....

   3FFB.8000000000000000 is the fraction 1/16; 3FFC.8000000000000000 is 1/8;
   and 3FFC.C000000000000000 is 3/16.  Both positive and negative inputs are
   affected.

-- Some (all?) positive floating-point values between 2^32 - 1/2
   (401E.FFFFFFFF00000000) and 2^32 (401F.0000000000000000) are rounded to
   zero when the rounding mode is nearest/even or up.

	Errors found in floatx80_to_int32, rounding nearest_even:
	401E.FFFFFFFF80000000  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 ....x
	401E.FFFFFFFFC00001FE  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 ....x
	401E.FFFFFFFFF8000000  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 ....x
	401E.FFFFFFFFFEC00000  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 ....x
	401E.FFFFFFFFFF002000  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 ....x
	401E.FFFFFFFFFFC00000  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 ....x
	401E.FFFFFFFFFFE00000  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 ....x
	401E.FFFFFFFFFFFD7FFE  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 ....x
	401E.FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFE  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 ....x
	401E.FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 ....x
	Errors found in floatx80_to_int32, rounding up:
	401E.FFFFFFFF00800000  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 ....x
	401E.FFFFFFFF80000000  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 ....x
	401E.FFFFFFFFEFFFC000  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 ....x
	401E.FFFFFFFFFC000000  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 ....x
	401E.FFFFFFFFFE7FFFFF  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 ....x
	401E.FFFFFFFFFFF00000  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 ....x
	401E.FFFFFFFFFFFE0800  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 ....x
	401E.FFFFFFFFFFFF7FFB  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 ....x
	401E.FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFE  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 ....x
	401E.FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 ....x

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intel Pentium Pros

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
floatx80_to_int32

-- The inexact flag is sometimes raised instead of the invalid flag for
   floating-point inputs under -(2^32) (C01F.0000000000000000).  This bug is
   sporadic.  It appears to be deterministic but dependent on the sequence
   of operations executed.

	Errors found in floatx80_to_int32, rounding nearest_even:
	C01F.C000000000000002  soft: 80000000 v....  syst: 80000000 ....x
	C021.F00000000000003F  soft: 80000000 v....  syst: 80000000 ....x
	Errors found in floatx80_to_int32, rounding to_zero:
	C021.F00000000000003F  soft: 80000000 v....  syst: 80000000 ....x
	Errors found in floatx80_to_int32, rounding up:
	C01F.C000000000000007  soft: 80000000 v....  syst: 80000000 ....x
	C01F.C000000000001000  soft: 80000000 v....  syst: 80000000 ....x

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sun SPARCstation 1's and IPX's

Some older SPARCstations appear confused about whether underflow tininess is
detected before or after rounding.  For conversions from double precision
to single precision, tininess is detected after rounding, while for all
quadruple-precision operations it is detected before rounding.  Single- and
double-precision multipies go both ways:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
float32_mul, float64_mul

-- For multiplies, underflow tininess is detected _before_ rounding if one
   of the inputs is subnormal, and _after_ rounding otherwise.  If tininess
   is assumed to be detected before rounding, the following errors are
   generated:

	Errors found in float32_mul, rounding nearest_even:
	001.000001  07E.7FFFFE  soft: 001.000000 ...ux  syst: 001.000000 ....x
	001.000001  87E.7FFFFE  soft: 801.000000 ...ux  syst: 801.000000 ....x
	001.000002  07E.7FFFFC  soft: 001.000000 ...ux  syst: 001.000000 ....x
	001.000002  87E.7FFFFC  soft: 801.000000 ...ux  syst: 801.000000 ....x
	001.000004  07E.7FFFF8  soft: 001.000000 ...ux  syst: 001.000000 ....x
	Errors found in float32_mul, rounding down:
	001.000001  87E.7FFFFE  soft: 801.000000 ...ux  syst: 801.000000 ....x
	001.000002  87E.7FFFFC  soft: 801.000000 ...ux  syst: 801.000000 ....x
	001.000004  87E.7FFFF8  soft: 801.000000 ...ux  syst: 801.000000 ....x
	001.000008  87E.7FFFF0  soft: 801.000000 ...ux  syst: 801.000000 ....x
	001.000010  87E.7FFFE0  soft: 801.000000 ...ux  syst: 801.000000 ....x
	Errors found in float32_mul, rounding up:
	001.000001  07E.7FFFFE  soft: 001.000000 ...ux  syst: 001.000000 ....x
	001.000002  07E.7FFFFC  soft: 001.000000 ...ux  syst: 001.000000 ....x
	001.000004  07E.7FFFF8  soft: 001.000000 ...ux  syst: 001.000000 ....x
	001.000008  07E.7FFFF0  soft: 001.000000 ...ux  syst: 001.000000 ....x
	001.000010  07E.7FFFE0  soft: 001.000000 ...ux  syst: 001.000000 ....x
	Errors found in float64_mul, rounding nearest_even:
	001.0000000000001  3FE.FFFFFFFFFFFFE
		soft: 001.0000000000000 ...ux  syst: 001.0000000000000 ....x
	001.0000000000001  BFE.FFFFFFFFFFFFE
		soft: 801.0000000000000 ...ux  syst: 801.0000000000000 ....x
	001.0000000000002  3FE.FFFFFFFFFFFFC
		soft: 001.0000000000000 ...ux  syst: 001.0000000000000 ....x
	001.0000000000002  BFE.FFFFFFFFFFFFC
		soft: 801.0000000000000 ...ux  syst: 801.0000000000000 ....x
	001.0000000000004  3FE.FFFFFFFFFFFF8
		soft: 001.0000000000000 ...ux  syst: 001.0000000000000 ....x
	Errors found in float64_mul, rounding down:
	001.0000000000001  BFE.FFFFFFFFFFFFE
		soft: 801.0000000000000 ...ux  syst: 801.0000000000000 ....x
	001.0000000000002  BFE.FFFFFFFFFFFFC
		soft: 801.0000000000000 ...ux  syst: 801.0000000000000 ....x
	001.0000000000004  BFE.FFFFFFFFFFFF8
		soft: 801.0000000000000 ...ux  syst: 801.0000000000000 ....x
	001.0000000000008  BFE.FFFFFFFFFFFF0
		soft: 801.0000000000000 ...ux  syst: 801.0000000000000 ....x
	001.0000000000010  BFE.FFFFFFFFFFFE0
		soft: 801.0000000000000 ...ux  syst: 801.0000000000000 ....x
	Errors found in float64_mul, rounding up:
	001.0000000000001  3FE.FFFFFFFFFFFFE
		soft: 001.0000000000000 ...ux  syst: 001.0000000000000 ....x
	001.0000000000002  3FE.FFFFFFFFFFFFC
		soft: 001.0000000000000 ...ux  syst: 001.0000000000000 ....x
	001.0000000000004  3FE.FFFFFFFFFFFF8
		soft: 001.0000000000000 ...ux  syst: 001.0000000000000 ....x
	001.0000000000008  3FE.FFFFFFFFFFFF0
		soft: 001.0000000000000 ...ux  syst: 001.0000000000000 ....x
	001.0000000000010  3FE.FFFFFFFFFFFE0
		soft: 001.0000000000000 ...ux  syst: 001.0000000000000 ....x

   If we assume tininess should be detected after rounding, we get the
   following errors:

	Errors found in float32_mul, rounding nearest_even:
	000.7FFC00  07F.000400  soft: 001.000000 ....x  syst: 001.000000 ...ux
	000.7FFC00  87F.000400  soft: 801.000000 ....x  syst: 801.000000 ...ux
	000.7FFE00  07F.000200  soft: 001.000000 ....x  syst: 001.000000 ...ux
	000.7FFE00  87F.000200  soft: 801.000000 ....x  syst: 801.000000 ...ux
	000.7FFF00  07F.000100  soft: 001.000000 ....x  syst: 001.000000 ...ux
	Errors found in float32_mul, rounding down:
	000.7FFC00  87F.000400  soft: 801.000000 ....x  syst: 801.000000 ...ux
	000.7FFE00  87F.000200  soft: 801.000000 ....x  syst: 801.000000 ...ux
	000.7FFF00  87F.000100  soft: 801.000000 ....x  syst: 801.000000 ...ux
	000.7FFF80  87F.000080  soft: 801.000000 ....x  syst: 801.000000 ...ux
	000.7FFFC0  87F.000040  soft: 801.000000 ....x  syst: 801.000000 ...ux
	Errors found in float32_mul, rounding up:
	000.7FFC00  07F.000400  soft: 001.000000 ....x  syst: 001.000000 ...ux
	000.7FFE00  07F.000200  soft: 001.000000 ....x  syst: 001.000000 ...ux
	000.7FFF00  07F.000100  soft: 001.000000 ....x  syst: 001.000000 ...ux
	000.7FFF80  07F.000080  soft: 001.000000 ....x  syst: 001.000000 ...ux
	000.7FFFC0  07F.000040  soft: 001.000000 ....x  syst: 001.000000 ...ux
	Errors found in float64_mul, rounding nearest_even:
	000.FFFFFFE000000  3FF.0000002000000
		soft: 001.0000000000000 ....x  syst: 001.0000000000000 ...ux
	000.FFFFFFE000000  BFF.0000002000000
		soft: 801.0000000000000 ....x  syst: 801.0000000000000 ...ux
	000.FFFFFFF000000  3FF.0000001000000
		soft: 001.0000000000000 ....x  syst: 001.0000000000000 ...ux
	000.FFFFFFF000000  BFF.0000001000000
		soft: 801.0000000000000 ....x  syst: 801.0000000000000 ...ux
	000.FFFFFFF800000  3FF.0000000800000
		soft: 001.0000000000000 ....x  syst: 001.0000000000000 ...ux
	Errors found in float64_mul, rounding down:
	000.FFFFFFE000000  BFF.0000002000000
		soft: 801.0000000000000 ....x  syst: 801.0000000000000 ...ux
	000.FFFFFFF000000  BFF.0000001000000
		soft: 801.0000000000000 ....x  syst: 801.0000000000000 ...ux
	000.FFFFFFF800000  BFF.0000000800000
		soft: 801.0000000000000 ....x  syst: 801.0000000000000 ...ux
	000.FFFFFFFC00000  BFF.0000000400000
		soft: 801.0000000000000 ....x  syst: 801.0000000000000 ...ux
	000.FFFFFFFE00000  BFF.0000000200000
		soft: 801.0000000000000 ....x  syst: 801.0000000000000 ...ux
	Errors found in float64_mul, rounding up:
	000.FFFFFFE000000  3FF.0000002000000
		soft: 001.0000000000000 ....x  syst: 001.0000000000000 ...ux
	000.FFFFFFF000000  3FF.0000001000000
		soft: 001.0000000000000 ....x  syst: 001.0000000000000 ...ux
	000.FFFFFFF800000  3FF.0000000800000
		soft: 001.0000000000000 ....x  syst: 001.0000000000000 ...ux
	000.FFFFFFFC00000  3FF.0000000400000
		soft: 001.0000000000000 ....x  syst: 001.0000000000000 ...ux
	000.FFFFFFFE00000  3FF.0000000200000
		soft: 001.0000000000000 ....x  syst: 001.0000000000000 ...ux

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sun SPARCstation 10's

Like other SPARCstations, some SPARCstation 10's are inconsistent regarding
underflow tininess, detecting it after rounding for single- and double-
precision operations and before rounding for quadruple-precision operations.
The following bug has also been observed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
float32_to_int32_round_to_zero, float64_to_int32_round_to_zero

-- Single- and double-precision NaNs are converted to the integer zero.
   (The invalid exception flag is raised correctly.)

	Errors found in float32_to_int32_round_to_zero:
	8FF.5D36AC  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 v....
	0FF.7FFFC0  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 v....
	8FF.7C0000  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 v....
	0FF.2AB7ED  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 v....
	0FF.03FFFF  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 v....
	Errors found in float64_to_int32_round_to_zero:
	7FF.45AD84DB2524A  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 v....
	7FF.CFEE063EE0512  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 v....
	7FF.89FF03AB7DBA2  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 v....
	7FF.FFFFFFFFFF800  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 v....
	FFF.68A6410E91BF6  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 00000000 v....

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HP Precision Architecture processors, with HP-UX prior to version 10.10

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
float32_to_int32_round_to_zero, float64_to_int32_round_to_zero

-- When the floating-point value is too large, the overflow and inexact
   exception flags are raised instead of the invalid flag.

	Errors found in float32_to_int32_round_to_zero:
	89E.000007  soft: 80000000 v....  syst: 80000000 ..o.x
	0A2.000020  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 7FFFFFFF ..o.x
	8FA.7C0000  soft: 80000000 v....  syst: 80000000 ..o.x
	Errors found in float64_to_int32_round_to_zero:
	7FD.0448700002F1C  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 7FFFFFFF ..o.x
	DAA.F000000000000  soft: 80000000 v....  syst: 80000000 ..o.x
	41E.063DA00005E65  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 7FFFFFFF ..o.x
	47E.FFFF800000000  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 7FFFFFFF ..o.x
	51F.0000000000004  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 7FFFFFFF ..o.x
	DDA.0000001FFFFFF  soft: 80000000 v....  syst: 80000000 ..o.x
	D70.00000000003FF  soft: 80000000 v....  syst: 80000000 ..o.x
	C7E.0000100000000  soft: 80000000 v....  syst: 80000000 ..o.x
	47E.000000000007F  soft: 7FFFFFFF v....  syst: 7FFFFFFF ..o.x
	D57.000000000FFFF  soft: 80000000 v....  syst: 80000000 ..o.x


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -