xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libc/time/difftime.c (revision 1ca5c1b28139779176bd5c13ad7c5f25c0bcd5f8)
1 /*	$NetBSD: difftime.c,v 1.7 2000/09/13 22:32:28 msaitoh Exp $	*/
2 
3 /*
4 ** This file is in the public domain, so clarified as of
5 ** June 5, 1996 by Arthur David Olson (arthur_david_olson@nih.gov).
6 */
7 
8 #include <sys/cdefs.h>
9 #if defined(LIBC_SCCS) && !defined(lint)
10 #if 0
11 static char	elsieid[] = "@(#)difftime.c	7.7";
12 #else
13 __RCSID("$NetBSD: difftime.c,v 1.7 2000/09/13 22:32:28 msaitoh Exp $");
14 #endif
15 #endif /* LIBC_SCCS and not lint */
16 
17 
18 /*LINTLIBRARY*/
19 
20 #include "private.h"
21 
22 /*
23 ** Algorithm courtesy Paul Eggert (eggert@twinsun.com).
24 */
25 
26 #ifdef HAVE_LONG_DOUBLE
27 #define long_double	long double
28 #endif /* defined HAVE_LONG_DOUBLE */
29 #ifndef HAVE_LONG_DOUBLE
30 #define long_double	double
31 #endif /* !defined HAVE_LONG_DOUBLE */
32 
33 double
34 difftime(time1, time0)
35 const time_t	time1;
36 const time_t	time0;
37 {
38 	time_t	delta;
39 	time_t	hibit;
40 
41 	if (/* LINTED */sizeof(time_t) < sizeof(double))
42 		return (double) time1 - (double) time0;
43 	if (/* LINTED */sizeof(time_t) < sizeof(long_double))
44 		return (long_double) time1 - (long_double) time0;
45 	if (time1 < time0)
46 		return -difftime(time0, time1);
47 	/*
48 	** As much as possible, avoid loss of precision
49 	** by computing the difference before converting to double.
50 	*/
51 	delta = time1 - time0;
52 	if (delta >= 0)
53 		return delta;
54 	/*
55 	** Repair delta overflow.
56 	*/
57 	hibit = (~ (time_t) 0) << (TYPE_BIT(time_t) - 1);
58 	/*
59 	** The following expression rounds twice, which means
60 	** the result may not be the closest to the true answer.
61 	** For example, suppose time_t is 64-bit signed int,
62 	** long_double is IEEE 754 double with default rounding,
63 	** time1 = 9223372036854775807 and time0 = -1536.
64 	** Then the true difference is 9223372036854777343,
65 	** which rounds to 9223372036854777856
66 	** with a total error of 513.
67 	** But delta overflows to -9223372036854774273,
68 	** which rounds to -9223372036854774784, and correcting
69 	** this by subtracting 2 * (long_double) hibit
70 	** (i.e. by adding 2**64 = 18446744073709551616)
71 	** yields 9223372036854776832, which
72 	** rounds to 9223372036854775808
73 	** with a total error of 1535 instead.
74 	** This problem occurs only with very large differences.
75 	** It's too painful to fix this portably.
76 	** We are not alone in this problem;
77 	** some C compilers round twice when converting
78 	** large unsigned types to small floating types,
79 	** so if time_t is unsigned the "return delta" above
80 	** has the same double-rounding problem with those compilers.
81 	*/
82 	return delta - 2 * (long_double) hibit;
83 }
84