Re: Ada 95 Validated on HP

[dewar@cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar)]

A note on annex terminology

Joe said, answering T.E.D

"> You left out the most important piece of information...what Annexes it
> supports.
>

The ObjectAda for Unix v7.0 supports the Core Annexes A & B plus Annex J.
We're also nearing finalization of plans for the phasing in of Annex C &
D support, beginning with ObjectAda for Unix v7.1."


There are two quite different kinds of annexes in the RM. Some annexes
are part of the core, and I have not heard the term "core annexe" as in
the above reply, before, but that is a useful term. All of the annexes
A,B and J are in this category, so every validated compiler must support
these annexes if it fully supports the core (it is still the case that
even under 2.0.1 you do not have to fully support the core, so even
though the requirements have been tighted up a little, you have to
carefully look at validation profiles). 

The other kind of annexes, which is what people usually have  in mind when
they ask a question like Ted's is the "special needs" annexes (C-H), and
these will remain optional.

Since 2.0.1 is now in effect, it is worth elaborating on these comments a
bit so that people understand how the transitional validation policy works.

With ACVC 2.0, to be validated, you had to pass all the basic tests, which
reflect Ada 83 capability, and then it was completely optional whether or
not you passed any of the Ada 95 tests both for the core and the special
needs annexes. Consequently, you really have to look carefully at 2.0
validations. Some validated compilers passed 100% of the Ada 95 core tests
and some passed 0%. Similarly, some passed none of the annexe tests, and
others passed some or all of the annexe tests.

With ACVC 2.0.1, things are not quite so permissive (the idea in general
is to strengthen the requirements as time goes by, giving time for
compiler technology to catch up). Now you have to pass at least one of
two defined subsets of the *core* Ada 95 tests, either:

   all the OO core tests

or

   all the RT core tests

You still don't need to pass any of the special needs annex tests, but
the tests for the core annexes A,B and J are included in the core tests.

With ACVC 2.1, which will be in use from March 1997 on, the rules will
tighten up still further, and the requirement will be to pass 100% of
the core tests. The special needs annexe tests will still be optional,
so you will still have to check the profile of the compiler you want to
use to ensure that it meets your needs.

In Ada 83 days, you could just check the validated compiler list, to find
out which compilers would implement the capability you required, but with
Ada 95, that can be quite misleading. For example, suppose you want a
validated compiler for machine X. You could look in the validated compiler
list, see an Ada 95 validated compiler for machine X, and think you could
do Ada 95 work using that compiler, but you have to be careful, perhaps
that particular compiler is one that passed 0% of the Ada 95 tests, and
you may be disappointed.

So, you have to check a bit further than just looking at the validated
compiler list, but then that has always been true, because as we have
discussed many times, the validation only reflects one particular aspect
of the compiler anyway.

P.S. Regarding GNAT validation plans. As was true for our first validation,
we are aiming at covering all the special needs annexes in our upcoming
series of validations. We are quite close now, something like 35-40 tests
remain to be handled -- that's out of all the core tests and special
needs annexe tests combined. So we will keep you informed. Our intention
is to move the major version number up when we completely pass the 2.0.1
tests for the core and all special needs annexes, so GNAT versions 4.xx
will pass all these tests.