GMP-ECM for base-2?
 

From the GMP-ECM INSTALL file:
[QUOTE] Note 3: If you want to use George Woltman's GWNUM library for speeding up
factoring base 2 numbers, obtain the file "gwnum_gpl_linux.tgz" from
[url]ftp://mersenne.org/gimps/[/url] (or gwnum_gpl.zip or gwnum_gpl_mingw.tgz
accordingly) and follow the instructions therein to compile
the library. Possibly the archive contains a readily compiled library
"gwnum.a" or "gwnum.lib". Then use

$ ./configure --with-gwnum=<gwnum directory>

The directory must include the gwnum.a or gwnum.lib file as well as
gwnum.h and related header files. The source file of the gwnum library
is available at <http://www.mersenne.org/source.htm>.

To compile the GMP-ECM library as a shared library, use the
--enable-shared parameter for ./configure. Building a shared library is
disabled by default.[/QUOTE]

Now [url]ftp://mersenne.org/gimps/[/url] no longer contains the GWNUM file; it's at [url]ftp://mersenne.org/gimps_archive/[/url]. But the library there hasn't been updated for 5 years (though surely GWNUM has been). Some questions come to mind:[list][*] Will GMP-ECM still work with the old version of GWNUM? Has anyone tested this with a recent version of GMP-ECM?[*] On the other hand, will GMP-ECM work with a newer version?[*] Is there a website where a newer version of GWNUM can be downloaded?[*] Is GWNUM still needed for efficient handling of base-2 numbers in GMP-ECM?[*] Is it still advisable to use GMP-ECM for base-2 numbers, even with GWNUM?[/list]
Apologies in advance for any incoherence; it's past 2 AM and I may not be altogether together.

The very latest GWNUM library source is always included with Prime95 source. E.g. [URL]ftp://mersenne.org/gimps/source264.zip[/URL]
Will it be compatible? - can't say immediately.