Re: Is 3.15p -still- the latest GNAT 'p' release?

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

Dale Stanbrough <MrNoSpam@bigpoop.net.au> writes:

> I was looking at cs.nyu.edu the other day, and the latest Gnat version
> still seems to be 3.15, which dates from 2002.
> 
> Is this -really- the latest release?

Yes, it is the latest official release, and is still recommended,
unless you want to participate in the development of GNAT.

There are 3 "branches" of GNAT: (1) the stable, official, "p" (public)
releases under GMGPL, (2) the "GNAT Pro" releases offered only to
paying customers, and (3) GCC.  The Ada front-end in GCC has been
available since GCC 3.1, but is not as stable as GNAT 3.15p.

The future is uncertain to me.  ACT has said they plan to make
additional "p" releases available, but there is no telling when.
Meanwhile, a lot of work has gone into the upcoming GCC 3.4.  It will
be more stable, offer some features proposed for Ada 2005, as well as
some additions to project files and the GNAT.* library.  But it does
not support tasking on powerpc-*-linux (a show stopper as far as I am
concerned), and lacks GLADE.

My recommendation is: stick with 3.15p.  If you want to be on the
bleeding edge, experiment with GCC 3.4 or, better yet, get involved in
the development of GCC 3.5.  Avoid GCC 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3.

-- 
Ludovic Brenta.