Re: change in promotion of types from database to channel access

[nda@aps.anl.gov (Ned Arnold)]

Chip asks: 
> Is anyone aware of a use of ULONG to hold a number larger than 2^31 which 
would
> fail if the value were contained in a 32 bit int?

I think I'll stand up for the "less sophisticated" EPICS Application Developer
(of which there are many !) and respond  "I don't know what you mean by a
ULONG. Does that mean my system will break ? I got all my stuff from 
Epics_Genius_such_and_such. Should I be worried ? ". 

I would be EXTREMELY hesitant to convert a ULONG to an int, "assuming" that
no one will be affected. This seems like a VERY difficult problem to debug
if you weren't aware of the change. Yes, you can warn people, but the "change"
may actually occur for some people 2 years from now when they find it 
convenient to "upgrade". 

If I recall, the original motivation was to avoid "ugly patches" in some 
client software. I don't think this justifies the risk to all the EPICS users.


	Ned