Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!mcsun!ukc!uos-ee!cam-cl!news
From: maj@cl.cam.ac.uk (Martyn Johnson)
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: Re:  Re: Can I use one format file with different virtex executables?
Summary: It's not just big/little endian stuff, beware floating point also.
Message-ID: <1991Jan14.121518.14462@cl.cam.ac.uk>
Date: 14 Jan 91 12:15:18 GMT
References: <SMITH.91Jan3104806@zeus.harvard.edu> <SPQR.91Jan7121145@cameron.ecs.soton.ac.uk> <387@memex.co.uk>
Sender: news@cl.cam.ac.uk (The news facility)
Distribution: comp.text.tex
Organization: U of Cambridge Computer Lab, UK
Lines: 13

> I don't know, but I suspect that floating point representation will
> catch you out as well.

It is absolutely true that format files can contain glue ratios, and such 
formats are indeed incompatible across architectures with the same byte 
order but different floating point representation.

However, most formats in common use don't contain glue ratios, and can 
usefully be shared.  Most formats only contain definitions, and to get a 
glue ratio you have to make a box.  It is up to the implementor to check 
each case carefully before risking sharing the format file.

Martyn Johnson