two questions on GMP & C float

[Torbjorn Granlund]

Sylvain Pion <Sylvain.Pion at sophia.inria.fr> writes:

  <historical context>
  At some point in the past, there was a goal to have mpfr_t replace mpf_t.
  This was given up, even though some things have changed which might
  make it worth reconsidering, like the integration of MPFR as part of
  the GNU project.  (BTW, what's the goal of mpf_t besides staying here
  for backward compatibility?  Does it address areas which mpfr_t does
  not, or not nicely at all?).
  Unfortunately the outcome of this failed merge is that there are now
  2 multiple precision floating-point types in the GNU project, with
  the possible confusion and interoperability issues that can arise.
  </historical context>
  
The main multiple precision fp library in the GNU project is mpfr, mpf
is kept mainly for compatibility reasons.  It is unlikely that I will
undertake major development projects for mpf.

mpfr has been part of GMP for two periods, but it was determined that
it was better to maintain the packages separately.  I don't see this as
a bad thing.

There are a number of extension libraries around GMP.  I think that is a
good thing.  I do not wish to integrate them inside GMP, but more
cooperation with these projects about useful developments in GMP would
be good.

-- 
Torbjörn