From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,4ffc4a297a9f10e0 X-Google-NewGroupId: yes X-Google-Attributes: gida07f3367d7,domainid0,public,usenet X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news2.google.com!news4.google.com!proxad.net!feeder1-2.proxad.net!weretis.net!feeder4.news.weretis.net!nuzba.szn.dk!news.jacob-sparre.dk!pnx.dk!not-for-mail From: "Randy Brukardt" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Thoughts on AdaCore maintaining GCC-incompatible GNAT sources Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2011 23:09:25 -0600 Organization: Jacob Sparre Andersen Research & Innovation Message-ID: References: <62c8c6c1-6578-4e61-b68a-2c192f34aa94@f20g2000prn.googlegroups.com> <1456fbc5-f951-4721-8575-0b73a492f275@r29g2000yqj.googlegroups.com> <80886810-73e0-4eea-88e3-6653afc2f45b@a28g2000prb.googlegroups.com> <82k4hyq328.fsf@stephe-leake.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: static-69-95-181-76.mad.choiceone.net X-Trace: munin.nbi.dk 1295672968 27529 69.95.181.76 (22 Jan 2011 05:09:28 GMT) X-Complaints-To: news@jacob-sparre.dk NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2011 05:09:28 +0000 (UTC) X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.5931 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.5931 X-RFC2646: Format=Flowed; Original Xref: g2news2.google.com comp.lang.ada:17601 Date: 2011-01-21T23:09:25-06:00 List-Id: "Stephen Leake" wrote in message news:82k4hyq328.fsf@stephe-leake.org... > deadlyhead writes: > >> I actually can't see any downside to AdaCore developing on a GCC >> branch. > > It would take them more time than they currently spend developing Ada. > Somebody has to pay for that time. I second this suggestion. Indeed, I find it amazing that anyone can build large software like a compiler even when they have all of the source. Case in point, I recently recompiled Janus/Ada with the current Janus/Ada compiler (rather than the older baseline compiler). That ended up taking parts of 8 days! And that was with nothing expecting needing change in either the building setup or compiler source. But all manner of bugs showed up, both in the current Janus/Ada compiler (which is amazing to me, given that I've been using that version for all of my work other than the compiler for 7 or so years) and in the compiler itself (due to improved checking of Ada rules in the latest compiler). Plus a number of mysterious problems, one of which appeared only once and hasn't reappeared since, and another which turned out to be caused by mistakenly running the wrong compiler in the testing directory (there was some missing version checking [now fixed], and apparently the files are getting laid out differently, so the older compiler scrambled the project files). Anyway, I'd consider it a miracle if anyone could compile something as large as the GNAT sources with anything other than the exact setup they were originally created with. There is just too much chance of running across some obscure bug otherwise. The less stable the development environment, the harder it would be to work on the compiler. And that costs time, which of course costs money (at least for a commercial company like AdaCore). Randy.