Re: Realtime/embedded project to help with employment.

["Robert I. Eachus" <rieachus@attbi.com>]

Simon Wright wrote:

> I seem to remember that this may be a problem: the options you need to
> validate may not be those you would want/need to use in a real-world
> application.
> 
> Apologies if this is FUD ...

Yes, it is true, but it is hardly FUD.  GNAT for example, has several 
dozen compiler options that normally result in an unvalidated compiler. 
  AFAIK, the only option you normally need to use in validation mode is 
-gnato.

But all that is irrelevant to YOU.  If you want to compile with some set 
of compiler options, ACT will do the work to validate with that option 
set.  This may mean that some ACATS tests will print failed, and ACT 
will have to document why it is "difficult or impossible" to pass those 
tests in your circumstances, or why those tests are not applicable in 
your situation.

A simple example is that you might want/need to compile with a 
non-Latin1 character set as your default in the run-time environment. 
In other words, you may be producing code that will run in an 
environment where the "standard" input and output is in Cyrillic, 
Hebrew, or Kanjii.  Your validation certificate will document that fact, 
and the test results will match.  Or you might not want to use Ada 
tasking and want to run in an environment where it is not supported.

Another example is that you might compile in a "non-standard" mode, with 
debugger support during development, and use a different set of compiler 
options for the production version.  Or you may insist on keeping the 
debugging support in the final code because you want to test the actual 
code you are going to use.  Your choice.  Again what you get for your 
validation effort is documentation of what the compiler will do in your 
intended environment.

It would be silly to pay for it, and not read the VSR (validation 
summary report). You can do that if all it really means to you is a 
check-off.  But it should say that you went to the effort because you 
needed the greater reliability that having a validated compiler 
promises.  And of course, part of that promise is that you will have 
available to you information that explains how your situation differs 
from the assumed standard environment.

-- 
                                              Robert I. Eachus

"As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure." -- Jacques Chirac, 
President of France
"As far as France is concerned, you're right." -- Rush Limbaugh