+ memcpy(pval, &it->size, COPY_SIZE(*pval, it->size));
+}
+
+/*
+ * Originally BN_num_bits_word was called to perform this operation, but
+ * trouble is that there is no guarantee that sizeof(long) equals to
+ * sizeof(BN_ULONG). BN_ULONG is a configurable type that can be as wide
+ * as long, but also double or half...
+ */
+static int num_bits_ulong(unsigned long value)
+{
+ size_t i;
+ unsigned long ret = 0;
+
+ /*
+ * It is argued that *on average* constant counter loop performs
+ * not worse [if not better] than one with conditional break or
+ * mask-n-table-lookup-style, because of branch misprediction
+ * penalties.
+ */
+ for (i = 0; i < sizeof(value) * 8; i++) {
+ ret += (value != 0);
+ value >>= 1;
+ }
+
+ return (int)ret;