2004.09.17 16:00 "Re: [Tiff] BigTIFF Tag Value Count issue", by Frank Warmerdam

Just to clarify, I'm not proposing that negative 64-bit values should have any meaning. They should be outlawed by the spec. I'm proposing that the spec outlaw values with the most-significant bit set, and this only to accommodate languages like Java that have a 64-bit signed type but no 64-bit unsigned type.

FGL,

As a practical matter Java or other unsigned-deficient languages can just use a signed 64bit integer type. It isn't like there will in practice be any objects with an offset of more than 2^63 anyways. In fact, libtiff used a signed int for toff_t till a few years ago too.

I'm sure the folks said the same thing about 32bit offsets once, but I am convinced no one will be able to track me down and make me sorry for this suggestion when it starts to matter.

Best regards,

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