computing generating elements of ZZ_p^* ?

Hi Robert,

unfortunately that package "gf" hasn't been updated for quite
some time now, and quite a few of its functions are broken:

load(gf);
gf_set(131);
gf_findprim();

fasttimes: arguments must be CRE polynomials with same variables.
#0: gf_binpower(p=x,n=131)(gf.mac line 244)
#1: mainpowers()(gf.mac line 346)
#2: gf_findprim()(gf.mac line 438)
 -- an error. To debug this try: debugmode(true);

So finding primitive elements is broken (at least with the
default settings).

Just to mention another error:

gf_exp(3,-1);

returns 1, and actually gf_exp(x,-1) for arbitrary x return 1
(also "gf_exp(a,-1)" returns 1).

It would be nice if that package could be brought back to life
(perhaps only some generic update is needed).

Best

Oliver

On Fri, Oct 21, 2011 at 09:58:07AM -0600, Robert Dodier wrote:
> Oliver, perhaps you can take a look at the share package gf.
> I don't know if it's applicable but perhaps it's worth taking a look.
> 
> best
> 
> Robert Dodier