Re: GPS issues: laundry list

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

"Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> writes:

> On Wed, 12 Sep 2012 07:53:21 -0400, Stephen Leake wrote:
>
>> - I can't change the environment ADA_PROJECT_PATH from within GPS. I
>>   change that more often than the compiler; typically each project
>>   requires a different path (mms_version_07, _06; gpm vs mms, lynx 4 vs
>>   lynx 5, etc).
>
> Why don't you use scenario variables for this? I handle multi-targeted
> projects (Windows/Linux/VxWorks) using scenarios. It works perfectly
> well.

Scenario variables are defined and used within project files.

ADA_PROJECT_PATH selects which project files to use.

Here's a use case that illustrates the difference:

I have a meta-project (GDS for MMS) that is composed of several GNAT
projects; mms, common, sal

I have several versions of the meta-project at customer sites;
mms_version_07, mms_version_06.

If I want to compile mms_version_06, ADA_PROJECT_PATH must be set to:

mms_version_06/mms/build;mms_version_06/common/build;mms_version_06/sal/build

Similarly, for version 07, it must be set to:

mms_version_07/mms/build;mms_version_07/common/build;mms_version_07/sal/build

How can you do that with scenarios? Note that the source code is
different between the versions, indeed the project files may be
different between the versions.

>> - tab completion and regexp name match on switch buffers. I often have
>>   dozens of buffers open; tab navigation just does not work in that scenario.
>
> This is indeed a problem, but I doubt that tab completion could be a
> solution, unless you type the names reverse (Ada units tend to have same
> prefix and differentiate in the suffix).

In Emacs, I use both; I start by typing a glob that narrows the field,
then tab complete to finish the selection.

> For a small project the project view works very well. For large projects,
> especially ones with many generic instances, nothing helps. No idea how to
> improve that, but tabs and regex are definitely non-starters to me.

Have you actually tried Emacs iswitchb?

>> There are some nice things about GPS; the context menus (right click on
>> an identifier)
>
> Caution! When the project is large and not completely compiled, right mouse
> click may promptly freeze the GPS. There is no hint when this to happen.
> However if GPS shows a tooltip upon hovering the item, you may safely right
> click on it. Otherwise, you were warned.

There are bugs in Emacs, too.

>> I think the hardest one to fix is the help system.
>
> I never used it and never felt it necessary to have.

Amazing. How do you find out how to do anything?

Let me guess; you have a resident guru, who has read the help, and you
just ask them.

Doesn't work for me.

>> But such functionality is
>> critical when working on writing new features for the system (or fixing
>> bugs in the existing code).
>
> Why?

Might as well ask fish why water is necessary.

I take it you have never tried developing code for Emacs in Emacs (or
some similar system).

Have you written GUI code for GPS? For example, added a new feature to
the VCS interface?

Have you tried to debug the crash you describe above?

-- 
-- Stephe