Re: Some questions on packaging Ada code

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

localhost@example.com wrote on comp.lang.ada:
> Hello all! Is it possible to generate an executable using gcc-ada and
> ncurses that doesn't have any dependencies? I'm thinking about providing an
> application to people that don't have ada or maybe even gcc installed and
> certainly not ncurses. I have Linux as my development system. If the answer
> to this question is yes

Yes.

For the GNAT run-time library, pass the -static option to gnatbind,
like so:

gnatmake [other parameters...] -bargs -static

or using a package Binder in your GNAT project file.

Please read the GNAT User's Guide for your version of GCC[1].

[1] http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/

For libraries other than the GNAT run-time library (such as ncurses),
simply specify the name of all static libraries necessary on the
command line or in the package Linker of your project file, like so:

gnatmake foo.adb [other options...] \
  -bargs -static \
  -largs /usr/lib/libncurses_ada.a /usr/lib/libncurses.a

or:

with "ncurses_ada";
project Foo is
   package Binder is
      for Default_Switches ("Ada") use ("-static");
   end Binder;
   package Linker is
      for Default_Switches ("Ada")
        use ("/usr/lib/libncurses_ada.a", "/usr/lib/libncurses.a");
   end Linker;
end Foo;

> then my next question would be can I generate a
> standalone Windows executable from Linux easily enough or should I take the
> source over to Windows somehow and build it there. Thanks for your help.

It is possible to cross-compile from a GNU/Linux host to a Windows
target but I am not aware of any binary distribution of the necessary
cross-compiler.  This means you would have to build your own cross-
compiler and cross-libraries from source.  I think this would be more
trouble than it is worth (especially since you seem to be a beginner);
you would be better off installing a native compiler and libraries on
Windows and recompiling your sources on Windows.

Finally, some notes about ncurses:
* the library may not work out of the box on Windows as it needs an
ANSI-compliant terminal.  I'm sure it can be made to work, perhaps
with some tweaking.
* you will need an Ada binding to ncurses, both on GNU/Linux and on
Windows.  Do you have one?  (see also http://bugs.debian.org/615920).

Hope this helps

--
Ludovic Brenta.