From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,LOTS_OF_MONEY autolearn=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Received: by 10.42.41.1 with SMTP id n1mr7773901ice.6.1404488984789; Fri, 04 Jul 2014 08:49:44 -0700 (PDT) X-Received: by 10.182.213.41 with SMTP id np9mr57902obc.3.1404488984557; Fri, 04 Jul 2014 08:49:44 -0700 (PDT) Path: eternal-september.org!reader01.eternal-september.org!reader02.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!usenet.blueworldhosting.com!feeder01.blueworldhosting.com!news.ripco.com!news.glorb.com!hn18no3050214igb.0!news-out.google.com!bp9ni2744igb.0!nntp.google.com!uq10no1537676igb.0!postnews.google.com!glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2014 08:49:44 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com; posting-host=71.252.147.203; posting-account=zwxLlwoAAAChLBU7oraRzNDnqQYkYbpo NNTP-Posting-Host: 71.252.147.203 References: User-Agent: G2/1.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-ID: <2871836a-3b86-4c5e-b7d9-7da3e9acf775@googlegroups.com> Subject: Re: some questions on installing Ada on Linux From: "Dan'l Miller" Injection-Date: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 15:49:44 +0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Xref: news.eternal-september.org comp.lang.ada:20707 Date: 2014-07-04T08:49:44-07:00 List-Id: On Friday, July 4, 2014 7:22:37 AM UTC-5, Simon Clubley wrote: > > What is the correct way to install Ada on Linux these days? > ... > > 1) Should one install GNAT on Linux by downloading tar files from > > http://libre.adacore.com (GPL 2014 edition) Do this only if: 1) the entirety of each executable containing your Ada work and all of its = supporting libraries are licensed under GPL; or 2) throwaway work, such as replicating a bug; or 3) trying out AdaCore's version before paying the over-$10,000-per-seat lic= ense. > > or use: sudo apt-get install gnat-4.8 Do this (or analogue on various distributions of Linux) for all other cases= . For example, I install GCC 4.9 from http://FinkProject.org for my MacOSX= development. > > 2) Will the sudo installation install all the stuff listed at > > libre.adacore.com? No. None of it exactly as supplied by AdaCore. Some AdaCore libraries a= re licensed as GPL only, which is useful only in executables entirely licen= sed as GPL. For this reason, the GPL-only libraries from AdaCore (i.e., du= al-licensed GPL and over-$10,000 per seat) are generally not distributed in= the open-source community. > including GPS editor and all the other packages? No. GPS is not distribute as source code publicly. I am unclear whether= source code to GPS is included in the over-$10,000-per-seat license for GN= AT Pro. > > 3) Which is more recent, gnat-4.8 or GPL 2014 edition? The answer is: it depends on which portion of GCC you are talking about. = As I understand it (2nd hand), generally, AdaCore uses an older back-end fo= r its latest GPL & Pro editions. So if you want the most recent back-end t= o all of GCC including to GNAT, then FSF GCC 4.9 is currently the most-rece= nt version of the back-end. But FSF uses a merge of its historical codebas= e plus an annual snapshot of GCC-GNAT source code that AdaCore is obligated= by the GPL to make available. So there is a natural lag time from AdaCore= 's release of 1) GNAT Pro versions versus 2) when the annual snapshot occur= s to form a now FSF GCC release, such as 4.9. As I understand it, FSF GNAT= front-end lags behind GNAT Pro front-end approximately 1 year, or perhaps = a year plus a fraction of a year. So if you want the most-recent GNAT fron= t-end for Ada, then GNAT Pro is very current (with multiple releases throug= hout the year) or GNAT GPL edition is 2nd best, being current on the day of= its release and then getting stale throughout the year until the next GPL = Edition version. > > 4) When I go to http://libre.adacore.com/download/configurations > > is there a way to tell it to check everything for download, > > without one having to spend 1 hr clicking on the check-box > > for each item? I do not see "select all" No, that would be yet another benefit of prepackaged FSF GCC (including G= NAT) over AdaCore GPL Edition. > > It is really confusing having Ada/GNAT in 2 different places. It is not done for reducing confusion. The AdaCore repository is done fo= r AdaCore to have a way to fund itself (which is better than the alternativ= e: no revenue). The FSF repository is done for legal reasons as FSF is th= e ultimate owner of the rights to copy the GNAT compiler within GCC, not Ad= aCore. > > Why not have one place to install Ada from so it is less > > confusing to users? The solution that I foresee long-term would be for a community outside of= AdaCore to become strong enough to support FSF GNAT well. I suspect that = means that eventually at least one other corporation other than AdaCore wou= ld need to donate some of its employees' time to maintenance & expansion of= FSF GNAT, analogous to Red Hat and IBM and Canonical and so forth donating= some of their time to maintenance & expansion of the Linux kernel. > I'll let someone who installs the pre-packaged toolchains answer your > other questions (I'm RedHat based and just build a new gcc/binutils > toolchain from the FSF source when the need arises) but the core problem > is that there are two distinct branches of the GNAT sources which cannot > be merged due to licence conflicts. Is this actually factually correct? I was of the understanding that they= are substantially merged approximately once per year. What obstructs a wh= olesale merge is the fact that AdaCore's GNAT lags behind 2 or 3 versions f= rom the latest stable back-end. FSF merges the vast majority of AdaCore's = evolution of GNAT that does not conflict with changes in the back-end. It = is bit-rot, not legalese, that naturally causes 2 source bases for GNAT. T= he relationship is symbiotic: FSF depends on AdaCore for most of the evolu= tion of the Ada front-end, whereas AdaCore depends on FSF for most of the e= volution of the back-end. AdaCore merges in a newer (but still lagging) ba= ck-end version approximately once per year to AdaCore's state-of-the-art fr= ont-end. Separately, FSF merges in a newer (but still lagging) GNAT front-= end version approximately once per year to FSF's state-of-the-art back-end.