Re: GNAT 3.10 for Mklinux

[Matthew Heaney <matthew_heaney@acm.org>]

colvert@ro.com (Paul Colvert) writes:

> I recently began using Mklinux and have really enjoyed it. Due to some
> projects that I have to work on, I need to have an Ada95 compiler. I
> need to find a port of GNAT 3.10p for the PPC under Mklinux or find
> some help in porting the source code distribution. Can anyone offer any
> help?

I use LinuxPPC, which is a linux-based gnu system, and am happy with it.
Release 4 ("R4") is the most recent version.  Visit the web-site for
info about ordering.

<http://www.linuxppc.org/>

I was using MkLinux (which is a gnu system with a Mach kernel), but
Apple dragged their feet on DR2.1 for so long, and that version didn't
have serial I/O, so I gave up on it.  I understand DR3 is out, but I
haven't tried that.

You can get both from the linuxppc.org folks, who bundle both LinuxPPC
and MkLinux on the CD.

I'm using gnat 3.10p, which is based on egcs 1.0-2e.  I think someone
sent it to me (I can try to send it to you, but I'm not sure how to send
binary attachments using gnus), but check the rpm dir at linuxppc.org
first.  (Also post your request to the linux-ada list discussed below.)

I'm not sure about binary compatibility between LinuxPPC and MkLinux.
Try the FAQ-o-matic at the linuxppc site to answer that question.

I myself was never able to port 3.10p from 3.09.  gcc-vs-egcs, patches,
etc, etc, just make my head spin.  I wasted two weekends trying to get
the damn thing built, without success.  Luckily, someone more learned
than me was able to port 3.10p, and that's what I'm using.

There is also the linux-ada list (described below), in which issues wrt
porting ada to a linux-based gnu system are discussed.  You can probably
answer your porting questions there.

>Actually, there are plans to set up a more Linux-like maintained
>version of GNAT. We were just waiting on the next public release to
>have an up-to-date starting point, because most of the more urgent
>problems seem to be already addressed in the expected 3.11p release.
>
>See
>
>  http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/linux-ada/
>
>for more info and join the mailing list if you are interested to
>contribute.
>
>-- 
>Markus G. Kuhn, Security Group, Computer Lab, Cambridge University, UK
>email: mkuhn at acm.org,  home page: <http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/>