From: dj AT delorie DOT com (DJ Delorie)
Subject: Re: double != long double
11 Jan 1999 08:01:13 -0800
Message-ID: <199901111554.KAA03605.cygnus.cygwin32.developers@envy.delorie.com>
References: <3698cbfc DOT 153903947 AT mail DOT goodnet DOT com>
To: jeffdb AT goodnet DOT com
Cc: cygwin32-developers AT cygnus DOT com


> Why is cygwin using a 12 byte long double when the vc compiler uses an 8
> byte, does anyone know?

GCC supports long doubles bigger than regular doubles.  8 bytes is a
regular (64-bit) double.  Apparenly, VC++ just doesn't support
anything bigger than a regular double.  GCC allows you to use the
FPU's "extended" precision, which is technically an 80-bit double (10
bytes) but it stores it in 12 bytes to maintain alignment.