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,LOTS_OF_MONEY autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,6deb3e1ddefb099 X-Google-NewGroupId: yes X-Google-Attributes: gida07f3367d7,domainid0,public,usenet X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Received: by 10.68.195.165 with SMTP id if5mr19972589pbc.1.1337513408758; Sun, 20 May 2012 04:30:08 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 Path: pr3ni12795pbb.0!nntp.google.com!news2.google.com!goblin2!goblin1!goblin.stu.neva.ru!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!mx04.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Simon Clubley Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Companies Only Offering Ada-95 Compilers Date: Sun, 20 May 2012 11:30:06 +0000 (UTC) Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Message-ID: References: <26eba77d68c700b0513a1aaa8cb53fa8@dizum.com> Injection-Date: Sun, 20 May 2012 11:30:06 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: mx04.eternal-september.org; posting-host="4pjzwDT2MPp9AkNxUo/C4Q"; logging-data="17374"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18XfL4nvTBvZJ/nRJZZ61ROfHs09ApDShQ=" User-Agent: slrn/0.9.8.1 (VMS/Multinet) Cancel-Lock: sha1:LQ2awDFuR6zSs1gXHB5A43zpgkE= Date: 2012-05-20T11:30:06+00:00 List-Id: On 2012-05-20, Nomen Nescio wrote: > > GNAT is certainly very good. But it is a pain in the ass in many ways. It is > GPL only and even if you use gcc Ada eventually that is going to cause > problems as GPL moves from GPL2 to 3, and who knows what's next. LGPL > libraries today, tomorrow everythings GPL, you trusted them, you put all > your eggs in one basket, you got screwed. > I am assuming above that by "gcc Ada", you mean the FSF branch; I use the FSF branch in order to avoid GPL issues and because when I need a RTOS, the RTOS I use (RTEMS) also uses it. The GPL 2 to GPL 3 comment has caught my attention. Given that the FSF Ada runtime libraries come with the GMGPL exception, what issues are raised by the GPL 2 to GPL 3 conversion ? I am assuming I have missed something, but I don't know what. On a more general note, one of the problems is that if you want to do hard real time/bare metal/low level programming using a Wirth type language, which I do, then Ada appears to be the only viable choice. I would really like to find another choice as a backup option, but what I have looked at so far (Modula-2, a Oberon variant, etc) appear to all be one-off ports or lacking in other ways. There are more options available if you want to do non-realtime application level programming under a mainstream operating system, but for system level work, Ada appears to be the only real viable option. Has anyone here used another Wirth type language in a real time system level environment, and if so, what kind of experience did you have ? > > Back to GNAT, it is often not (easily) available on many POSIX platforms and > architectures. We have discussed Librecore's abandonment of Solaris > recently. There is still a lot of SPARC UNIX being used and no place to get > a trusted build and no instructions on building yourself. I'm not even sure > there is an Intel Solaris GNAT available anywhere. Is it really that hard > for people who "have the technology" to make this available? Yes, we are > willing to pay for something as good as GNAT, just not $20,000. Not for one > person who isn't going to make any money on it. gcc Ada would be fine (until > Stallman drops his GPL bomb on the libraries) but it's only available on > Linux and Windows. Can you point to this "GPL bomb" issue, please ? It's something I need to become aware of and a quick search didn't reveal anything. BTW, wouldn't it affect C++ code just as much as Ada code ? If that's the case, then we may end up with a XFree86/X.Org type situation once again. BTW, as well as the native support, FSF Ada does work as a cross compiler for a couple of targets. I have used it in the past to run Ada code on AVR MCUs and more recently, on ARM based MCUs using RTEMS. Simon. -- Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP Microsoft: Bringing you 1980s technology to a 21st century world