Re: Emacs Ada mode vs Ada 2012 syntax

[Stephen Leake <stephen_leake@stephe-leake.org>]

stefan-lucks@see-the.signature writes:

> On Fri, 31 Aug 2012, Stephen Leake wrote:
>
>> Another option is to try to abstract the Ada implementation of the
>> indentation engine from GPS, and arrange for Emacs to use it, via
>> process or function calls. I don't think that would be easy, and it
>> could be too slow.
>
> Please don't! One of the good things about Emacs is its 
> vendor-independence. 

How does using GPL code for an indentation engine create vendor
dependence?

As I understand it, "vendor dependence" means supporting only one (or a
few) Ada compiler vendors. For Ada mode, the things that can be
vendor-dependent are the command line used to invoke the compiler, the
syntax of the error messages, the cross-reference information, and the
project files. 

Precisely because Ada source code syntax is _standard_ (ie _not_
vendor-dependent), an indentation engine cannot possibly introduce vendor
dependence.

Invoking the compiler and parsing the error messages is nicely
vendor-independent in Emacs Ada mode, and would stay that way if the
indentation engine used GPS Ada code.

On the other hand, since Emacs understands only GNAT cross-reference info,
and has gpr-mode, which is AdaCore specific, it's already
vendor-dependent. But that's considered ok because GNAT is Open Source,
and part of the Gnu project. 

-- 
-- Stephe