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29<title>Frequently Asked Questions about GNU MPFR</title>
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115
116<h1>Frequently Asked Questions about <cite><acronym>GNU</acronym> <acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite></h1>
117
118<p><strong>Important notice: Problems with a particular version of
119<cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> are discussed in the corresponding
120bugs page.</strong></p>
121
122<p>The latest version of this <acronym>FAQ</acronym> is available at
123<a href="https://www.mpfr.org/faq.html">https://www.mpfr.org/faq.html</a>.
124Please look at this version if possible.</p>
125
126<ol>
127<li><a href="#mpfr_vs_mpf">What are the differences between
128<cite><acronym>MPF</acronym></cite> from <cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite>
129and <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite>?</a></li>
130<li><a href="#mpf2mpfr">How to convert my program written using
131<cite><acronym>MPF</acronym></cite> to
132<cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite>?</a></li>
133<li><a href="#no_libgmp">At configure time, I get the error: <q>libgmp not found or uses a different ABI.</q></a></li>
134<li><a href="#undef_ref1">I get undefined reference to <code>__gmp_get_memory_functions</code>.</a></li>
135<li><a href="#undef_ref2">When I link my program with
136<cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite>, I get undefined reference
137to <code>__gmpXXXX</code>.</a></li>
138<li><a href="#crash_high_prec">My program crashes with high precisions.</a></li>
139<li><a href="#accuracy">Though I have increased the precision, the results
140are not more accurate.</a></li>
141<li><a href="#detect_mpfr">How can I detect <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite>
142installation using <cite>autoconf</cite> or <cite>pkg-config</cite>?</a></li>
143<li><a href="#cite">How to cite <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> in a
144scientific publication?</a></li>
145<li><a href="#fpic">When I build <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite>, I get
146an error asking me to recompile with <samp>-fPIC</samp>.</a></li>
147</ol>
148
149<dl class="faq">
150
151<dt id="mpfr_vs_mpf">1. What are the differences between
152<cite><acronym>MPF</acronym></cite> from <cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite>
153and <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite>?</dt>
154
155<dd><p>The main differences are:</p>
156<ul>
157<li><p>The precision of a <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> variable
158is the <em>exact</em> number of bits used for its mantissa, whereas in
159<cite><acronym>MPF</acronym></cite>, the precision requested by the user
160is a minimum value (<cite><acronym>MPF</acronym></cite> generally uses a
161higher precision). With the additional difference below, this implies that
162the <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> results do not depend on the
163number of bits (16, 32, 64 or more) of the underlying architecture.</p></li>
164<li><p>As a consequence, <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> uses a
165base-2 exponent, whereas in <cite><acronym>MPF</acronym></cite>, this
166is a base-2<sup>32</sup> or base-2<sup>64</sup> exponent, depending on
167the limb size. For this reason (and other internal ones), the maximum
168exponent range in <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> is different
169(and smaller, if the exponent is represented by the same type as in
170<cite><acronym>MPF</acronym></cite>).</p></li>
171<li><p><cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> provides an additional rounding
172mode argument to its functions; furthermore, it is guaranteed that the
173result of any operation is the nearest possible floating-point value from
174the exact result (considering the input variables as exact values), taking
175into account the precision of the destination variable and the rounding
176mode. <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> also says whether the rounded
177result is above or below the exact result.</p></li>
178<li><p><cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> supports much more functions
179(in particular transcendental functions such as exponentials, logarithms,
180trigonometric functions and so on) and special values: signed zeros,
181infinities, not-a-number (NaN).</p></li>
182</ul></dd>
183
184<dt id="mpf2mpfr">2. How to convert my program written using
185<cite><acronym>MPF</acronym></cite> to
186<cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite>?</dt>
187
188<dd><p>You need to add <q><code>r</code></q> to the function names, and to
189specify the rounding mode (<code>MPFR_RNDN</code> for rounding to nearest,
190<code>MPFR_RNDZ</code> for rounding toward zero, <code>MPFR_RNDU</code>
191for rounding toward plus infinity, <code>MPFR_RNDD</code> for rounding
192toward minus infinity). You can also define macros as follows:
193<code class="block-code">#define mpf_add(a, b, c) mpfr_add(a, b, c, MPFR_RNDN)</code></p>
194<p>The header file <samp>mpf2mpfr.h</samp> from the
195<cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> distribution automatically
196redefines all <cite><acronym>MPF</acronym></cite> functions in this
197way, using the default <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> rounding
198mode. Thus you simply need to add the following line in all your files
199using <cite><acronym>MPF</acronym></cite> functions:
200<code class="block-code">#include &lt;mpf2mpfr.h&gt;</code>
201just after the <samp>gmp.h</samp> and <samp>mpfr.h</samp>
202header files. If the program uses <cite><acronym>MPF</acronym></cite>
203internals (such as direct access to <code>__mpf_struct</code> members),
204additional changes will be needed.</p></dd>
205
206<dt id="no_libgmp">3. At configure time, I get the error: <q>libgmp not found or uses a different ABI.</q></dt>
207
208<dd><p>This test (<samp>checking for __gmpz_init in -lgmp</samp>) comes
209after the <samp>gmp.h</samp> detection. The failure occurs either because
210the <cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite> library could not be found
211(as it is not in the provided library search paths) or because the
212<cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite> library that was found does not have
213the expected <acronym title="Application Binary Interface">ABI</acronym>
214(<abbr>e.g.</abbr> 32-bit <abbr>vs</abbr> 64-bit). The former problem can be
215due to the fact that a static build of <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite>
216was requested while only a shared <cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite> library
217is installed (or the opposite, but another error can also show up in this
218case, see the <a href="#fpic">question about <samp>-fPIC</samp></a>). The
219latter problem can have several causes:</p>
220<ul>
221<li>A wrong libgmp library has been picked up. This can occur if you have
222several <cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite> versions installed on the
223machine and something is wrong with the provided library search paths.</li>
224<li>Wrong compiler options (<samp>CFLAGS</samp>) were given. In general, the
225presence or absence of the <samp>-m64</samp> compiler option must match the
226library <acronym title="Application Binary Interface">ABI</acronym>.</li>
227<li>A wrong <samp>gmp.h</samp> file has been picked up (if you have several
228<cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite> versions installed). Indeed, by default,
229<cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> gets the compiler options from the
230<samp>gmp.h</samp> file (with <cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite> 4.2.3
231or later); this is needed because <cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite> does
232not necessarily use the default <acronym>ABI</acronym>. The consequence is
233that if the <samp>gmp.h</samp> file is associated with a library using a
234different <acronym>ABI</acronym>, the <acronym>ABI</acronym>-related options
235will be incorrect. Hence the failure.</li>
236</ul>
237<p>Note: The <samp>config.log</samp> output gives more information
238than the error message. In particular, see the output of the test:
239<samp>checking for CC and CFLAGS in gmp.h</samp>; it should give you
240the default compiler options (from <samp>gmp.h</samp>).</p>
241
242<p>See also the answer to the <a href="#undef_ref1">next question</a>.</p></dd>
243
244<dt id="undef_ref1">4. I get undefined reference to <code>__gmp_get_memory_functions</code>.</dt>
245
246<dd><p>Note: this was mainly a problem when upgrading from
247<cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite> 4.1.4 to a later version,
248but information given below may still be useful in other cases,
249when several <cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite> libraries are
250installed on the same machine.</p>
251
252<p>If you get such an error, in particular when running
253<samp>make check</samp>, then this probably means that you are using
254the header file from <cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite> 4.2.x but the
255<cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite> 4.1.4 library. This can happen if
256several <cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite> versions are installed on
257your machine (<abbr>e.g.</abbr>, one provided by the system in
258<samp>/usr/{include,lib}</samp> and a new one installed by the owner or
259administrator of the machine in <samp>/usr/local/{include,lib}</samp>)
260and your include and library search paths are inconsistent. On various
261<acronym>GNU</acronym>/Linux machines, this is unfortunately the case
262by default (<samp>/usr/local/include</samp> is in the default include
263search path, but <samp>/usr/local/lib</samp> is <em>not</em> in the
264default library search path). Typical errors are:
265<samp class="block-code">undefined reference to `__gmp_get_memory_functions'</samp>
266in <samp>make check</samp>. The best solution is to add
267<samp>/usr/local/include</samp> to your <var class="env">C_INCLUDE_PATH</var>
268environment variable and to add <samp>/usr/local/lib</samp> to your
269<var class="env">LIBRARY_PATH</var> and <var class="env">LD_LIBRARY_PATH</var>
270environment variables (and/or <var class="env">LD_RUN_PATH</var>).
271Alternatively, you can use <samp>--with-gmp*</samp> configure options,
272<abbr>e.g.</abbr> <samp>--with-gmp=/usr/local</samp>, but <strong>this is
273not guaranteed to work</strong> (in particular with <samp>gcc</samp> and
274system directories such as <samp>/usr</samp> or <samp>/usr/local</samp>),
275and other software that uses <cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite> and/or
276<cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> will need correct paths too;
277environment variables allow you to set them in a global way.</p>
278<p>Other information can be given in the <samp>INSTALL</samp> file and
279<samp>ld</samp> manual. Please look at them for more details. See also
280the <a href="#undef_ref2">next question</a>.</p></dd>
281
282<dt id="undef_ref2">5. When I link my program with
283<cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite>, I get undefined reference
284to <code>__gmpXXXX</code>.</dt>
285
286<dd><p>Link your program with <cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite>. Assuming
287that your program is <samp>foo.c</samp>, you should link it using:
288<samp class="block-code">cc link.c -lmpfr -lgmp</samp>
289<cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> library reference (<samp>-lmpfr</samp>)
290should be before <cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite>'s one
291(<samp>-lgmp</samp>). Another solution is, with <acronym>GNU</acronym>
292<samp>ld</samp>, to give all the libraries inside a group:
293<samp class="block-code">gcc link.c -Wl,--start-group libgmp.a libmpfr.a -Wl,--end-group</samp>
294See <samp>INSTALL</samp> file and <samp>ld</samp> manual for more
295details.</p>
296<p>If you used correct link options, but still get an error, this may mean
297that your include and library search paths are inconsistent. Please see the
298<a href="#undef_ref1">previous question</a>.</p></dd>
299
300<dt id="crash_high_prec">6. My program crashes with high precisions.</dt>
301
302<dd><p>Your stack size limit may be too small; indeed, by default,
303<cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite> 4.1.4 and below allocates all
304temporary results on the stack, and in very high precisions, this
305limit may be reached. You can solve this problem in different ways:</p>
306<ul>
307<li><p>You can upgrade to <cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite> 4.2 (or above),
308which now makes temporary allocations on the stack only when they are
309small.</p></li>
310<li><p>You can increase the stack size limit with the <samp>limit</samp>,
311<samp>unlimit</samp> or <samp>ulimit</samp> command, depending on your
312shell. This may fail on some systems, where the maximum stack size cannot
313be increased above some value.</p></li>
314<li><p>You can rebuild both <cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite> and
315<cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> to use another allocation method.</p></li>
316</ul></dd>
317
318<dt id="accuracy">7. Though I have increased the precision, the results
319are not more accurate.</dt>
320
321<dd><p>The reason may be the use of C floating-point numbers. If you want
322to store a floating-point constant to a <code>mpfr_t</code>, you should use
323<code>mpfr_set_str</code> (or one of the <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite>
324constant functions, such as <code>mpfr_const_pi</code> for &#960;) instead
325of <code>mpfr_set_d</code> or <code>mpfr_set_ld</code>. Otherwise the
326floating-point constant will be first converted into a reduced-precision
327(<abbr>e.g.</abbr>, 53-bit) binary number before
328<cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> can work with it. This is the case
329in particular for most exact decimal numbers, such as 0.17, which are
330not exactly representable in binary.</p>
331<p>Also remember that <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> does not track
332the accuracy of the results: copying a value <var>x</var> to <var>y</var>
333with <code>mpfr_set (y, x, MPFR_RNDN)</code> where the variable <var>y</var>
334is more precise than the variable <var>x</var> will not make it more
335accurate; the (binary) value will remain unchanged.</p></dd>
336
337<dt id="detect_mpfr">8. How can I detect <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite>
338installation using <cite>autoconf</cite> or <cite>pkg-config</cite>?</dt>
339
340<dd><p>The <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> team does not currently
341recommend any <cite>autoconf</cite> code, but a section will later
342be added to the <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> manual.
343Limited <cite>pkg-config</cite> support has been added for
344<cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> 4.0.0; example:</p>
345<pre style="margin-left: 2em">cc myprogram.c $(pkg-config --cflags --libs mpfr)</pre></dd>
346
347<dt id="cite">9. How to cite <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> in a
348scientific publication?</dt>
349
350<dd><p>To properly cite <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> in a scientific
351publication, please cite the
352<a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/1236463.1236468"><acronym title="Association for Computing Machinery">ACM</acronym>
353<acronym title="Transactions on Mathematical Software">TOMS</acronym>
354paper</a>
355and/or the library web page
356<a href="https://www.mpfr.org/">https://www.mpfr.org</a>. If your publication
357is related to a particular release of <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite>,
358for example if you report timings, please also indicate the release number
359for future reference.</p></dd>
360
361<dt id="fpic">10. When I build <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite>, I get
362an error asking me to recompile with <samp>-fPIC</samp>.</dt>
363
364<dd><p>A typical error looks like:</p>
365<p><tt>/usr/bin/ld: <em>/path/to/</em>libgmp.a(realloc.o): relocation
366R_X86_64_32 against `.rodata.str1.1' can not be used when making a
367shared object; recompile with -fPIC<br />
368<em>/path/to/</em>libgmp.a: could not read symbols: Bad value<br />
369collect2: ld returned 1 exit status</tt></p>
370<p>The probable reason is that you tried to build
371<cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> with the shared library enabled (this
372is the default), while only a static <cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite>
373library could be found. To solve this problem, either rebuild and reinstall
374<cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite> without the <samp>--disable-shared</samp>
375configure option, or configure <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> with
376<samp>--disable-shared</samp>. If you did this and still get the above
377error, the cause may be conflicting <cite><acronym>GMP</acronym></cite>
378versions installed on your system; please check that your search path
379settings are correct.</p>
380<p>Additional note about the last sentence: Under <acronym>GNU</acronym>/Linux
381(for instance), the linker takes the first library found in the library search
382path, whether it is dynamic or static. The default behavior under darwin is
383different, but <cite><acronym>MPFR</acronym></cite> will change it.</p></dd>
384<!-- Reference concerning darwin: see MPFR_LD_SEARCH_PATHS_FIRST
385 in MPFR's configure.{ac,in} and acinclude.m4 -->
386
387</dl>
388
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