Node:Raw Output Internals, Next:C++ Interface Internals, Previous:Float Internals, Up:Internals
mpz_out_raw uses the following format.
+------+------------------------+ | size | data bytes | +------+------------------------+
The size is 4 bytes written most significant byte first, being the number of subsequent data bytes, or the twos complement negative of that when a negative integer is represented. The data bytes are the absolute value of the integer, written most significant byte first.
The most significant data byte is always non-zero, so the output is the same on all systems, irrespective of limb size.
In GMP 1, leading zero bytes were written to pad the data bytes to a multiple
of the limb size. mpz_inp_raw will still accept this, for
compatibility.
The use of "big endian" for both the size and data fields is deliberate, it
makes the data easy to read in a hex dump of a file. Unfortunately it also
means that the limb data must be reversed when reading or writing, so neither
a big endian nor little endian system can just read and write _mp_d.