Re: gnat GPL 2010 or gcc/ada?

[onox <denkpadje@gmail.com>]

On Mar 4, 5:06 pm, Ludovic Brenta <ludo...@ludovic-brenta.org> wrote:
> Nasser M. Abbasi wrote:
> > Basic question: I've always been confused about which "Ada" to use.
>
> > If one wants to write some program in Ada for school,
> > and want to use Ada. Should one download gcc which has
> > Ada in it, or download gnat GPL 2010?
>
> > Can someone, using simple words, explain which one of
> > the above should one install? For example, gnatmake comes
> > with both gcc/ada and gnat GPL 2010?  Should one use gnatmake
> > or the new gpl configuration files to build an Ada program?
>
> They both have gnatmake and they both use the same .gpr project files
> (which have been "new" for 9 years or so).  You can also use gprbuild
> for mixed-language development, it also uses the same project files
> but can drive compilers for languages other than Ada.  Gprbuild is
> separate from GCC.
>
> I think the decision should depend on your platform.  If your platform
> provides precompiled binaries, you should use them; that is the case
> in particular for Debian & derivatives (which also include gprbuild as
> a separate package), Gentoo and the *BSDs.  If your platform does not,
> then GNAT GPL Edition is probably what you want. It will provide
> binaries of the compiler and GPS but only sources for all other
> libraries, so you'll have to recompile quite a lot (e.g. GtkAda).
>
> Another factor in your decision is the licensing terms of the run-time
> library: pure GPL for GNAT GPL Edition, GPL with Runtime Exception for
> GCC.
>
> HTH
>
> --
> Ludovic Brenta.

In my opinion Gentoo doesn't really have good Ada support. Latest
version of gnat-gcc is 4.3.4 and of gnat-gpl is 4.1.3.2008-r1. And
(according to the ChangeLog files) most Ada packages seem to be quite
old. I found it easier to just download gnat-gpl 2010 from ACT's
website. (If I could run VM's, I would develop in a Debian or *BSD VM)