Re: Slightly OT: Linux distributions and Ada

[Ludovic Brenta <ludovic@ludovic-brenta.org>]

Tomek Walkuski writes:
> It is maybe a silly question, but: are there any gnat-gpl-2007
> packages for Debian-like distributions?

Not in .deb format to my knowledge.  I only have time to support one
compiler.  However, it is perfectly possible to install AdaCore's
.tar.gz file on a Debian system.

> Is it possible to mix (like slots in Gentoo) GCC and AdaCore
> complilers?

With free software, anything is possible :)

But Debian does not provide any direct support for this, and this is a
deliberate design decision.  The design goals are:

- to make all Ada libraries and programs binary-compatible; hence they
  must all be compiled with the same compiler.

- to provide a stable, production-worthy development platform: the
  user who writes Ada programs should not have to care about how to
  choose his compiler or configure PATH variables or whatnot.  Just
  "gnatmake".

- to provide precompiled binary packages; therefore Debian cannot
  force the user to recompile any packages.

In short, Debian is perfect for people who want to write and deploy
Ada programs, while Gentoo is perfect for people who want to
experiment with various compiler versions.

Of course, you can still experiment with various compiler versions in
Debian; there are ways like:

- create chroots for alternative environments (e.g. unstable, 32-bit,
  64-bit)

- compile GCC for yourself and install it in /opt/gcc

- install AdaCore's binary distro in /opt/gnat-gpl

but then you have to fiddle with PATH etc.

-- 
Ludovic Brenta.