Re: how to tell gnatmake to send executables to a different directory when compiling multi source?

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

Patrick writes:
> Is my super-ignorant shell script still a reasonably safe thing to do?

I wouldn't call it safe because of entropy: "duplicated information
eventually becomes different information".  Copying object files around
creates the potential problem that you compile against up-to-date
sources but link against obsolete object files.

I personally prefer to use GNAT project files.  They can tell gnatmake
how to link Ada object files with a library produced separately.  When I
must also compile the library from source languages other than Ada, then
I use a single-level Makefile (not recursive) that builds the non-Ada
part(s) into a library (or several libraries) then calls gnatmake to
build the Ada parts and link against the library.  I make it so that
copying object files is never necessary.

One of the reasons I choose Ada as a programming language is because it
helps me write clean, maintainable, solid software.  Sometimes I must
use Makefiles but that is no excuse for writing dirty, messy, fragile
build systems, now is it?

Therefore, like for all software, I try to make my Makefiles as simple
as possible and as complex as necessary.  My Makefiles are under version
control like everything else, and I write them with the same care as
everything else.

-- 
Ludovic Brenta.