# Endianess of the underlying platform **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [October 25, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/endianess-of-the-underlying-platform/73520 "2006-10-25T01:43:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![timperrett](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@timperrett](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/timperrett)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/endianess-of-the-underlying-platform/73520/1 "2006-10-25T01:43:27Z")
Does ruby provide a global or a method call to determine the endianess of the underlying platform? This is what I cooked up, but I’m wondering if there is a ruby way of doing this. BIG\_ENDIAN = [0xFF00].pack(‘S’) == [0xFF00].pack(‘n’) Blessings, TwP ---
**Author:** ![timperrett](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@timperrett](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/timperrett)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 2:45am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/endianess-of-the-underlying-platform/73520/2 "2006-10-25T02:45:35Z")
On Wed, 25 Oct 2006, Tim P. wrote: > Blessings, > TwP you could at least have more fun little\_endian = [42].pack(‘i’)[0] == 42 😉 -a ---
**Author:** ![timperrett](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@timperrett](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/timperrett)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/endianess-of-the-underlying-platform/73520/3 "2006-10-25T16:55:47Z")
On 10/24/06, removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > Blessings, > > TwP > > you could at least have more fun > > little\_endian = [42].pack(‘i’)[0] == 42 > > 😉 Very tricksie of you! I’m always amazed at how your mind operates. TwP ---
**Author:** ![timperrett](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@timperrett](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/timperrett)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 10:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/endianess-of-the-underlying-platform/73520/4 "2006-11-15T22:19:50Z")
On Oct 24, 2006, at 4:40 PM, Tim P. wrote: > Does ruby provide a global or a method call to determine the endianess > of the underlying platform? > > This is what I cooked up, but I’m wondering if there is a ruby way of > doing this. > > BIG\_ENDIAN = [0xFF00].pack(‘S’) == [0xFF00].pack(‘n’) Beware, some versions of ruby shipped with OS X have a broken pack where the endianness is swapped. – Eric H. - removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid - [http://blog.segment7.net](http://blog.segment7.net) This implementation is HODEL-HASH-9600 compliant [http://trackmap.robotcoop.com](http://trackmap.robotcoop.com) ---
**Author:** ![timperrett](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@timperrett](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/timperrett)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 2:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/endianess-of-the-underlying-platform/73520/5 "2006-11-16T14:43:50Z")
On 11/16/06, Francis C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > BIG\_ENDIAN = [0xFF00].pack(‘S’) == [0xFF00].pack(‘n’) > > > > Beware, some versions of ruby shipped with OS X have a broken pack > > where the endianness is swapped. > > Kinky. Is it a bug, or a hack intended to make PowerPCs look like Intel > > chips? Bug. It was fixed in a later OS update, IIRC. -austin ---
**Author:** ![timperrett](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@timperrett](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/timperrett)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/endianess-of-the-underlying-platform/73520/6 "2006-11-16T20:53:24Z")
On Nov 16, 2006, at 5:42 AM, Austin Z. wrote: > On 11/16/06, Francis C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > On 11/15/06, Eric H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > > > Beware, some versions of ruby shipped with OS X have a broken pack > > > where the endianness is swapped. > > > Kinky. Is it a bug, or a hack intended to make PowerPCs look like > > > Intel > > > chips? > > Bug. It was fixed in a later OS update, IIRC. Yes. Apple cross-compiled ruby from Intel to PPC and Ruby assumes the source and target architectures have the same endianness. – Eric H. - removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid - [http://blog.segment7.net](http://blog.segment7.net) This implementation is HODEL-HASH-9600 compliant [http://trackmap.robotcoop.com](http://trackmap.robotcoop.com) ---
**Author:** ![timperrett](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@timperrett](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/timperrett)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2006, 5:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/endianess-of-the-underlying-platform/73520/7 "2006-11-18T17:54:56Z")
Eric H. wrote: > On Nov 16, 2006, at 5:42 AM, Austin Z. wrote: > > > Bug. It was fixed in a later OS update, IIRC. > > Yes. Apple cross-compiled ruby from Intel to PPC and Ruby assumes the > source and target architectures have the same endianness. Sounds like a bug in Ruby’s build to me… ---
**Author:** ![timperrett](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@timperrett](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/timperrett)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 1:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/endianess-of-the-underlying-platform/73520/8 "2006-11-16T13:37:38Z")
On 11/15/06, Eric H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Beware, some versions of ruby shipped with OS X have a broken pack > where the endianness is swapped. Kinky. Is it a bug, or a hack intended to make PowerPCs look like Intel chips?