Ada in Debian: gnat-4.4 is in unstable; please test

Ada in Debian: gnat-4.4 is in unstable; please test

[Ludovic Brenta]

My plan for the next release of Debian, code-named Squeeze, is as
follows:

2009-02-15: Debian 5.0 "Lenny" released
2009-07-28: gnat-4.4 reaches unstable
2009-09-30: libgnat-4.4 ABI freeze; start of transition of all Ada
packages
2010-02-15: end of support for Debian 4.0 "Etch" (i.e. Lenny+12
months)
2010-02-28: end of transition and, probably, freeze of all packages in
Debian
2010-03-*: removal of gnat-4.3
sometime between 2010-08 and 2011-02: release of Squeeze, i.e. between
18 and 24 months after Lenny.

Today marks the first milestone on this roadmap. gnat-4.4 includes all
of the patches from gnat-4.3 (adjusted as needed) but also some
patches from GCC 4.5 needed to make the Distributed Systems Annex work
again (with PolyORB).

I need your help testing the compiler and its run-time libraries
against your programs and fixing any bugs you find. During this time,
I am willing to patch the compiler and its run-time library as needed
for stability or even to backport new features from the trunk (GCC
4.5). After the ABI freeze, no changes will be accepted to the run-
time library anymore (i.e. the .ali files will be frozen) so as to
guarantee binary compatibility of all Ada packages.

If you have some software that you would like to package for Debian, I
encourage you to use gnat-4.4, instead of gnat-4.3, starting now.
gnat-4.4 will be the only Ada compiler in Debian Squeeze.

Happy hacking!

--
Ludovic Brenta.

Re: Ada in Debian: gnat-4.4 is in unstable; please test

[Ludovic Brenta]

I wrote on comp.lang.ada:
> My plan for the next release of Debian, code-named Squeeze, is as
> follows:
>
> 2009-02-15: Debian 5.0 "Lenny" released
> 2009-07-28: gnat-4.4 reaches unstable
> 2009-09-30: libgnat-4.4 ABI freeze; start of transition of all Ada
> packages
> 2010-02-15: end of support for Debian 4.0 "Etch" (i.e. Lenny+12
> months)
> 2010-02-28: end of transition and, probably, freeze of all packages in
> Debian
> 2010-03-*: removal of gnat-4.3
> sometime between 2010-08 and 2011-02: release of Squeeze, i.e. between
> 18 and 24 months after Lenny.

I'm sorry but I'll have to change this plan drastically.  The recent
announcement of the new two-year time-based release schedule[1] caught
me by surprise, especially the fact that Squeeze will actually have a
one-year release schedule :(

[1] http://www.debian.org/News/2009/20090729

This leaves only 4 months to complete the transition of all Debian
packages.  Because of this, I'm officially abandoning my goal of
providing support for multi-arch (32 and 64-bit) and cross compilers
in Squeeze and I will shorten the time for compiler testing.  The new
schedule is:

2009-07-28: gnat-4.4 reaches unstable.  Immediate start of transition
for other packages.
2009-08-31: libgnat-4.4 ABI freeze and re-upload of dependent packages
as necessary.
2009-09-30: compiler freeze.
2009-11-30: end of transition and package freeze (release-critical bug
fixes still allowed).
2010-12-31: gnat-4.3 removed from Debian.

It is possible that I cannot complete the transition of all packages
due to lack of time (remember: I'm a volunteer working on my spare
time on Debian!). In such an event, I will request *REMOVAL* of some
packages from Debian. The packages that have a Request for Help or
Request for Adoption bug open against them will be the first packages
dropped; they are:

gnat-gps (RFH: http://bugs.debian.org/496905)
libtexttools (RFA: http://bugs.debian.org/477474)
gnade (RFA: http://bugs.debian.org/496787)

So, if you use or have any interest in those packages, please help
with the transition.  You do not have to be a Debian Developer to help
or even to adopt a package officially.  If I do not receive any help,
I will conclude that nobody is interested enough to justify the effort
and simply drop the packages mentioned.

--
Ludovic Brenta.

Re: Ada in Debian: gnat-4.4 is in unstable; please test

[Tero Koskinen]

On Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:59:08 -0700 (PDT) Ludovic Brenta wrote:
> If you have some software that you would like to package for Debian, I
> encourage you to use gnat-4.4, instead of gnat-4.3, starting now.
> gnat-4.4 will be the only Ada compiler in Debian Squeeze.

Where can one find gnat-4.4 binary packages?

I installed Sid inside Debian 5.0.1 chroot using instructions
from [1] and [2]. However, my local Debian mirror (ftp.fi.debian.org)
doesn't seem to have gnat-4.4 packages, only gnat-4.3:
# apt-cache search gnat-4.4
# cat /etc/debian_version 
squeeze/sid
# apt-cache search gnat-4.3
gnat-4.3 - The GNU Ada compiler
gnat-4.3-base - The GNU Compiler Collection (gnat base package)
libgnat-4.3 - Runtime library for GNU Ada applications
libgnat-4.3-dbg - Runtime library for GNU Ada applications
# cat /etc/apt/sources.list
deb ftp://ftp.fi.debian.org/pub/debian sid main contrib
deb-src ftp://ftp.fi.debian.org/pub/debian sid main contrib
#

Should I fetch the build scripts from ada-france.org Monotone server
and build the gnat packages manually?

[1] http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/566
[2] http://lavluda.blogspot.com/2006/08/debian-sid-on-chroot.html
-- 
Tero Koskinen - http://iki.fi/tero.koskinen/

Re: Ada in Debian: gnat-4.4 is in unstable; please test

[Tero Koskinen]

On Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:36:36 +0300 Tero Koskinen wrote:
> Where can one find gnat-4.4 binary packages?
> 
> I installed Sid inside Debian 5.0.1 chroot

Oh, and I am using i386 platform (no access to amd64).

According to http://packages.debian.org/sid/gnat-4.4, there is
no packages for i386, is this correct?

-- 
Tero Koskinen - http://iki.fi/tero.koskinen/

Re: Ada in Debian: gnat-4.4 is in unstable; please test

[Ludovic Brenta]

Tero Koskinen wrote:
> > Where can one find gnat-4.4 binary packages?
>
> > I installed Sid inside Debian 5.0.1 chroot
>
> Oh, and I am using i386 platform (no access to amd64).
>
> According tohttp://packages.debian.org/sid/gnat-4.4, there is
> no packages for i386, is this correct?

The package built successfully on i386[1] but apparently it has not
reached the archive yet.  Funny that hppa, s390 and sparc should reach
the archive before i386 does :)

Please retry in a day or two; sorry for the delay.  I'll monitor that
space and complain to the Debian buildd admins if the i386 package
doesn't show up by saturday evening.

[1] https://buildd.debian.org/pkg.cgi?pkg=gnat-4.4

--
Ludovic Brenta.

Re: Ada in Debian: gnat-4.4 is in unstable; please test

[Stephen Leake]

Ludovic Brenta <ludovic@ludovic-brenta.org> writes:

> It is possible that I cannot complete the transition of all packages
> due to lack of time (remember: I'm a volunteer working on my spare
> time on Debian!). 

I appreciate all your hard work.

> In such an event, I will request *REMOVAL* of some packages from
> Debian. The packages that have a Request for Help or Request for
> Adoption bug open against them will be the first packages dropped;
> they are:
>
> gnat-gps (RFH: http://bugs.debian.org/496905)
> libtexttools (RFA: http://bugs.debian.org/477474)
> gnade (RFA: http://bugs.debian.org/496787)

I'll take a look at gnade. I'm using it again, on Windows with the
upstream release.

-- 
-- Stephe

Re: Ada in Debian: gnat-4.4 is in unstable; please test

[Ludovic Brenta]

Ludovic Brenta wrote on comp.lang.ada:
> Tero Koskinen wrote:
> > > Where can one find gnat-4.4 binary packages?
>
> > > I installed Sid inside Debian 5.0.1 chroot
>
> > Oh, and I am using i386 platform (no access to amd64).
>
> > According tohttp://packages.debian.org/sid/gnat-4.4, there is
> > no packages for i386, is this correct?
>
> The package built successfully on i386[1] but apparently it has not
> reached the archive yet.  Funny that hppa, s390 and sparc should reach
> the archive before i386 does :)
>
> Please retry in a day or two; sorry for the delay.  I'll monitor that
> space and complain to the Debian buildd admins if the i386 package
> doesn't show up by saturday evening.

The i386 packages are now in the archive; i386 users rejoice :)

--
Ludovic Brenta.

Re: Ada in Debian: gnat-4.4 is in unstable; please test

[Tero Koskinen]

On Sat, 1 Aug 2009 06:02:27 -0700 (PDT) Ludovic Brenta wrote:
> The i386 packages are now in the archive; i386 users rejoice :)

Thanks for info.

I noticed at least one bug already, reported here:
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=540090

I think gnat-4.4 should either include gcc as a dependency,
call gcc-4.4, or something like that.

Btw, I noticed that many Ada packages (aws, adacontrol) still depend on
gnat-4.3, are those updated at some point also?

-- 
Tero Koskinen - http://iki.fi/tero.koskinen/

Re: Ada in Debian: gnat-4.4 is in unstable; please test

[Ludovic Brenta]

On Aug 5, 6:02 pm, Tero Koskinen <tero.koski...@iki.fi> wrote:
> On Sat, 1 Aug 2009 06:02:27 -0700 (PDT) Ludovic Brenta wrote:
>
> > The i386 packages are now in the archive; i386 users rejoice :)
>
> Thanks for info.
>
> I noticed at least one bug already, reported here:http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=540090
>
> I think gnat-4.4 should either include gcc as a dependency,
> call gcc-4.4, or something like that.

It is normally patched to call gcc-4.4, yes.  I'll look into it.  If
there is a place where it calls gnatgcc instead (which is part of
package gnat), I'll fix it.  Thanks for reporting.

> Btw, I noticed that many Ada packages (aws, adacontrol) still depend on
> gnat-4.3, are those updated at some point also?

Yes, when I get around to it.  That will involve updates to newer
versions and soname bumps.

--
Ludovic Brenta.

Re: Ada in Debian: gnat-4.4 is in unstable; please test

[Markus Schoepflin]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 142 bytes --]

Ludovic ,

trying to compile a local project, I got a bug box from gnat-4.4. Please 
see attached log and source files.

Best regards,
Markus

[-- Attachment #2: compile.log --]
[-- Type: text/plain, Size: 1136 bytes --]

gcc-4.4 -c -I./ -gnato -gnatwl -gnatwauJF -gnatef -g -fno-strict-aliasing -gnatwA -I- ./test.adb
+===========================GNAT BUG DETECTED==============================+
| 4.4.1 (i486-pc-linux-gnu) Assert_Failure sinfo.adb:360                   |
| Error detected at a-unccon.ads:23:27                                     |
| Please submit a bug report; see http://gcc.gnu.org/bugs.html.            |
| Use a subject line meaningful to you and us to track the bug.            |
| Include the entire contents of this bug box in the report.               |
| Include the exact gcc-4.4 or gnatmake command that you entered.          |
| Also include sources listed below in gnatchop format                     |
| (concatenated together with no headers between files).                   |
+==========================================================================+

Please include these source files with error report
Note that list may not be accurate in some cases,
so please double check that the problem can still
be reproduced with the set of files listed.

./test.adb
./language.ads
list may be incomplete
compilation abandoned

[-- Attachment #3: test.adb --]
[-- Type: text/plain, Size: 95 bytes --]

with System;
with Language;

procedure Test
is
 use System;
 use Language;
begin
   null;
end;

[-- Attachment #4: language.ads --]
[-- Type: text/plain, Size: 131 bytes --]

pragma Source_Reference (000001, "language.ads");

pragma Extend_System(AUX_DEC);
with System;

package Language is

end Language;

Re: Ada in Debian: gnat-4.4 is in unstable; please test

[Ludovic Brenta]

Markus Schoepflin wrote on comp.lang.ada:
> Ludovic ,
>
> trying to compile a local project, I got a bug box from gnat-4.4. Please
> see attached log and source files.
[...]
Please report it to the Debian bug tracking system. Thanks.

--
Ludovic Brenta.

Re: Ada in Debian: gnat-4.4 is in unstable; please test

[Markus Schoepflin]

Ludovic Brenta wrote:

> Please report it to the Debian bug tracking system. Thanks.

Done, see http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=540174.

Markus

Re: Ada in Debian: gnat-4.4 is in unstable; please test

[Ludovic Brenta]

Someone asked me privately, but I feel this is of interest to
everyone:
> Do you have plans to add gprbuild and ASIS also?

I have plans to update ASIS to the GNAT GPL 2009 version; this will be
part of the library transition that I announced here.  I will in fact
update all existing packages.

As for gprbuild, this is a new package and I'm not planning to do it
myself as I am in fact trying to concentrate on fewer packages.  If
someone is interested in packaging GPTBuild, please do not hesitate;
as I have said repeatedly:
- I will help would-be packagers of Ada software in Debian; just
contact me privately if you need pointers.
- you do not have to be a Debian Developer before you contribute (in
fact the opposite is true: you must own and maintain packages in
Debian before you are even considered for Debian Developer status).

The Debian release manager has admitted that his announcement[1]
concerning the new release schedule was premature.  So the plan for a
freeze in December 2009 is officially abandoned[2].  A new plan and
schedule are due in September.

[1] http://www.debian.org/News/2009/20090729
[2] http://www.debian.org/News/2009/20090730

This does have an impact on my own schedule and I am no longer in a
big hurry; I will await the decision in September and, based on that,
will decide on my own release goals.  Tentatively:

- enable support for multiarch (i.e. for i386/amd64 and others: emit
64-bit binaries on 32-bit platforms and vice-versa; for mips/mipsel,
emit little-endian code on big-endian platforms and vice-versa).  This
is a new feature in GCC 4.4.

- enable support for the Distributed Systems Annex through the
addition of PolyORB.  Xavier Grave and Reto Buerki are working on this
and have already managed to get CORBA and MOMA (Message-Oriented
Middleware Architecture) working.  I am sponsoring the package for
them.

The bottom line is: for now, please continue to test gnat-4.4 as
extensively as you can, and please consider helping out with a package
you are particularly interested in.  I have already received valuable
feedback in the form of bug reports (and encouragements, thanks for
that!) and I trust that Debian Squeeze will not only be worthy of
Debian's reputation, but its support for Ada will raise the bar even
higher.

--
Ludovic Brenta.

Re: Ada in Debian: gnat-4.4 is in unstable; please test

[Ludovic Brenta]

I wrote on comp.lang.ada:
> - enable support for multiarch (i.e. for i386/amd64 and others: emit
> 64-bit binaries on 32-bit platforms and vice-versa; for mips/mipsel,
> emit little-endian code on big-endian platforms and vice-versa).  This
> is a new feature in GCC 4.4.

Before anyone who doesn't know GCC very well asks: GCC has had support
for multiarch for several years now but the Ada front-end was lagging
behind; GCC 4.4 adds support for multiarch in the Ada front-end.

Also, multiarch is difficult.  There are deep issues with holistic
system architectures and decisions to be made; 32/64-bit support is
hairy enough as it is but consider it only one particular case of
multi-arch support.  I mentioned little-endian/big-endian already and
we can have multiple combinations.  For example, I gather modern
PowerPC processors can run all four combinations of 32-bit/LE, 32-bit/
BE, 64-bit/LE and 64-bit/BE *concurrently*, not to mention emulated
architectures, the Synergistic Processing Units of the Cell processor
and GPUs used for number crunching.  We live interesting times :)

--
Ludovic Brenta.