GNATBench : how can I install ?

GNATBench : how can I install ?

[Yannick Duchêne (Hibou57)]

Hello people out there,

I get into some troubles with Hibachi (the Ada support plug-in for  
Eclipse). It became very slow and take very long when I switch from a view  
to the Ada view. So I wanted to have a look at GNATBench, which I  
downloaded from the TopCased site.

There was an installer, so I used it to be safe. But when I restarted  
Eclipse, nothing was there : no editor dedicated to Ada source, no Ada  
view, nothing.

I searched the web and found some who get similar trouble some years ago.  
He receive a response telling him he had to have a CDT installed. What is  
that CDT ? I searched about “Ada CDT” and could not find anything.

Any track appreciated


P.S. Is it OK to use GNATBench with a stand-alone MinGW compiler ?

Re: GNATBench : how can I install ?

[Yannick Duchêne (Hibou57)]

Le Thu, 04 Nov 2010 12:41:32 +0100, Yannick Duchêne (Hibou57)  
<yannick_duchene@yahoo.fr> a écrit:
> I searched the web and found some who get similar trouble some years  
> ago. He receive a response telling him he had to have a CDT installed.  
> What is that CDT ? I searched about “Ada CDT” and could not find  
> anything.
Funny, just posted this question that I get an anwser by accident : I was  
searching for a C support in Eclipse, and found this :
http://www.eclipse.org/cdt/

CDT stands for “C/C++ Development Tooling”. It is not related to Ada (why  
GNATBench need this is a mystery).

> P.S. Is it OK to use GNATBench with a stand-alone MinGW compiler ?
Question still pending. Will try and will tell you.


-- 
Si les chats miaulent et font autant de vocalises bizarres, c’est pas pour  
les chiens.

Re: GNATBench : how can I install ?

[Britt Snodgrass]

Forget Hibachi, its a (effectively) dead project.

GNATbench has some minimal dependence on the CDT to support mixed
language programming and debugging, I think.  I have installed
GNATbench many times. Assuming you have GNATbench 2.4.0, I would first
get the Eclipse 3.5.2 SDK from www.eclipse.org and then use the built-
in "Help->Install New Software..." to find and install the compatible
version of the CDT (e.g. CDT 6.0.2). Then install GNATbench 2.4.0.
Versions of  GNATbench up through 2.4.0 will default (with prompt) to
installing themselves into the GNAT bin directory and then putting a
gnatbench.link file in a "links" subdirectory in the Eclipse
directory. Restart Eclipse after installation. Version 2.5.0 of
GNATbench (when released) will have a more standard "local update
site" installation mechanism.

- Britt

Re: GNATBench : how can I install ?

[Warren]

Britt Snodgrass expounded in news:1717f132-4cc1-43ec-89a8-
69d40a12d65d@m24g2000vbu.googlegroups.com:

> Forget Hibachi, its a (effectively) dead project.

Besides, just mentioning "Hibachi" makes me hungry
thinking about BBQ'd steaks..

Warren

Re: GNATBench : how can I install ?

[Yannick Duchêne (Hibou57)]

Le Thu, 04 Nov 2010 20:08:53 +0100, Britt Snodgrass  
<britt.snodgrass@gmail.com> a écrit:

> Forget Hibachi, its a (effectively) dead project.

Some already told me the same here, but I could not get an idea without a  
try. Hibachi is not so bad, it is lightweight and simple, which can be  
good. And I don't like to say “dead” for such a thing which was not  
created on that purpose (some care for the authors too). This was still a  
good and not-tiny job.

> GNATbench has some minimal dependence on the CDT to support mixed
> language programming and debugging, I think.
I've noticed CDT only has the debugging configuration pan (Hibachi had  
one). I did not test debugging (learned to do without).

It handles file-name refactoring not so well as CDT does. Indeed, it does  
not handle this at all, and I get crashes when I did some test, like  
renaming an Ada file, an Ada project name, a GPR file, etc. It tries to  
rebuild a data-base, then crash and makes all Eclipse crash with it (it  
does not crash alone, I don't like that). So beware of file renaming.

> I have installed
> GNATbench many times. Assuming you have GNATbench 2.4.0, I would first
> get the Eclipse 3.5.2 SDK from www.eclipse.org and then use the built-
> in "Help->Install New Software..." to find and install the compatible
> version of the CDT (e.g. CDT 6.0.2). Then install GNATbench 2.4.0.
> Versions of  GNATbench up through 2.4.0 will default (with prompt) to
> installing themselves into the GNAT bin directory and then putting a
> gnatbench.link file in a "links" subdirectory in the Eclipse
> directory Restart Eclipse after installation.
I may add I've checked it works fine with MinGW, but still requires a  
minimal GPS in the path… to open the GPR file dialog box.

> Version 2.5.0 of
> GNATbench (when released) will have a more standard "local update
> site" installation mechanism.
Seems they may have reach this target while they may not tell it : there  
is even no need to use the installer, I've played a bit to see how it  
works. All you have to do (at least in Windows), is to unpack the  
installer or the archive, move the “plugins” and “features” folders in  
your eclipse directory (nothing else at all), then launch Eclipse. It will  
automatically detect any GCC/gnatc. A minimal GPS is not strictly  
required, but if there is none, you will have to edit GPR files manually.  
I've noticed it has automatically created a big gnatbench.dll in a  
subdirectory of OSGI (which is in “.configuration”).

All that means it is near to be possible to install it straight-away (it  
just needs to get ride of the minimal external GPS it relies on, to be OK).

What is this “gnatbench.link” ? Mine is working without. I tried the  
installation from place to place to see if this was still standalone… and  
it is.

Compared to Hibachi, I could not strictly say one is better than the  
other, this would be like comparing AdaGIDE and GPS (no way to compare,  
the spirit and target are not the same). Both  have their weakness (CDT on  
the other hand is very good… now he know a possible reason why so much  
people are sticked to C/C++/Java… the environment is very neat-good in  
this area, and all seamless).

Also, both come with source, if ever some-one would wish to get involved.


-- 
Si les chats miaulent et font autant de vocalises bizarres, c’est pas pour  
les chiens.

Re: GNATBench : how can I install ?

[Yannick Duchêne (Hibou57)]

Le Thu, 04 Nov 2010 21:10:50 +0100, Warren <ve3wwg@gmail.com> a écrit:
> thinking about BBQ'd steaks..
What is “to think about BBQ'd steaks” ? (sorry if I ask questions like a  
bot)

-- 
Si les chats miaulent et font autant de vocalises bizarres, c’est pas pour  
les chiens.

Re: GNATBench : how can I install ?

[Yannick Duchêne (Hibou57)]

Le Fri, 05 Nov 2010 05:08:12 +0100, Yannick Duchêne (Hibou57)  
<yannick_duchene@yahoo.fr> a écrit:
> I may add I've checked it works fine with MinGW, but still requires a  
> minimal GPS in the path… to open the GPR file dialog box.
>
> [...]
>
> A minimal GPS is not strictly required, but if there is none, you will  
> have to edit GPR files manually. I've noticed it has automatically  
> created a big gnatbench.dll in a subdirectory of OSGI (which is in  
> “.configuration”).
Strange : if you do, on an Ada project, a right-click, then “GNAT Project”  
then “Edit Properties”, it invoks the old dialog box from GPS. But you may  
also right-click on a GPR file, then you will have two options : “Open  
with -> GNAT Project File Editor” or “Open with -> GNAT Project File  
Extended Editor”. Three different ways to edit a same file. The Extended  
one seems a work on progress.

-- 
Si les chats miaulent et font autant de vocalises bizarres, c’est pas pour  
les chiens.

Re: GNATBench : how can I install ?

[Britt Snodgrass]

On Nov 5, 12:34 am, Yannick Duchêne (Hibou57)
<yannick_duch...@yahoo.fr> wrote:
>
> > A minimal GPS is not strictly required, but if there is none, you will  
> > have to edit GPR files manually. I've noticed it has automatically  
> > created a big gnatbench.dll in a subdirectory of OSGI (which is in  
> > “.configuration”).
>
> Strange : if you do, on an Ada project, a right-click, then “GNAT Project”  
> then “Edit Properties”, it invoks the old dialog box from GPS. But you may  
> also right-click on a GPR file, then you will have two options : “Open  
> with -> GNAT Project File Editor” or “Open with -> GNAT Project File  
> Extended Editor”. Three different ways to edit a same file. The Extended  
> one seems a work on progress.
>

I much prefer to edit GPR files manually with the GNATbench text
editor because its easier to keep the GPR files neat, commented, and
optimally structured.  The project file editing GUI works but it can
restructure the GPR file in ugly ways when it saves the file.  It will
often introduce unneeded case statements in every GPR package when the
project uses scenario variables.  So I only use the project editor GUI
to help discover compiler and tool switches, then I close the GUI
without saving and proceed to edit the file manually.

Re: GNATBench : how can I install ?

[Yannick Duchêne (Hibou57)]

Le Fri, 05 Nov 2010 12:22:54 +0100, Britt Snodgrass  
<britt.snodgrass@gmail.com> a écrit:
> I much prefer to edit GPR files manually with the GNATbench text
> editor because its easier to keep the GPR files neat, commented, and
> optimally structured.  The project file editing GUI works but it can
> restructure the GPR file in ugly ways when it saves the file.  It will
> often introduce unneeded case statements in every GPR package when the
> project uses scenario variables.  So I only use the project editor GUI
> to help discover compiler and tool switches, then I close the GUI
> without saving and proceed to edit the file manually.
Right. This is even more difficult if you introduce a real logic, then GPS  
will may not be able to read it anymore (do not remember exactly, there  
was some constants defined if my mind is right).

While there are at least two advantageous point with the Rich Editor  
approach : you do not have to check the manual all the time to see what is  
that one letter or two letter flag you forget about (but if you leave  
comments, the Rich Editor will remove them all). And the second point, for  
a first approach, new comers, a Rich Editor is better.

-- 
Si les chats miaulent et font autant de vocalises bizarres, c’est pas pour  
les chiens.

Re: GNATBench : how can I install ?

[Britt Snodgrass]

On Nov 4, 11:08 pm, Yannick Duchêne (Hibou57)
<yannick_duch...@yahoo.fr> wrote:
> Le Thu, 04 Nov 2010 20:08:53 +0100, Britt Snodgrass
> <britt.snodgr...@gmail.com> a écrit:
>
> > Forget Hibachi, its a (effectively) dead project.
>
> Some already told me the same here, but I could not get an idea without a
> try. Hibachi is not so bad, it is lightweight and simple, which can be
> good. And I don't like to say “dead” for such a thing which was not
> created on that purpose (some care for the authors too). This was still a
> good and not-tiny job.

Yes, it has some good qualities but I don't see the point of using it
when GNAT is your compiler. GNATbench works much better with GNAT.
Hibachi probably works better with an Aonix compiler.  I actually used
earlier versions of the Aonix ADT before it was released as Hibachi.
The company I work for funded some of the initial Aonix ADT
development because we needed an Ada plug-in for Eclipse and couldn't
get AdaCore interested at the time (several years ago).  I think
that's the only reason Hibachi has some support for GNAT. We switched
to GNATbench starting with version 2.1 and now use GNATbench 2.4.


>
> I may add I've checked it works fine with MinGW, but still requires a
> minimal GPS in the path… to open the GPR file dialog box.

I didn't think there was any remaining requirement to also have GPS
installed but I haven't checked recently.  I always keep the latest
release of GPS installed as well.  I use both GPS and GNATbench and
like them both.  They each have their strengths, and its very easy to
switch between them, or even run them both at the same time since they
can "share" a GPR file.

>
> > Version 2.5.0 of
> > GNATbench (when released) will have a more standard "local update
> > site" installation mechanism.
>
> Seems they may have reach this target while they may not tell it : there
> is even no need to use the installer, I've played a bit to see how it
> works. All you have to do (at least in Windows), is to unpack the
> installer or the archive, move the “plugins” and “features” folders in
> your eclipse directory (nothing else at all), then launch Eclipse.

Yes there are various ways to install it. I just described the
standard way in my other post.

>
> All that means it is near to be possible to install it straight-away (it
> just needs to get ride of the minimal external GPS it relies on, to be OK).
>
> What is this “gnatbench.link” ? Mine is working without. I tried the
> installation from place to place to see if this was still standalone… and
> it is.

Eclipse can load plug-ins from various locations if it finds a link
file containing the plug-in path. With the default installation
method, GNATbench 2.4 (and earlier) will create the gnatbench.link in
the Eclipse links folder if you install GNATbench in the GNAT
directory.

>
> Compared to Hibachi, I could not strictly say one is better than the
> other, this would be like comparing AdaGIDE and GPS (no way to compare,
> the spirit and target are not the same). Both  have their weakness (CDT on
> the other hand is very good… now he know a possible reason why so much
> people are sticked to C/C++/Java… the environment is very neat-good in
> this area, and all seamless).
>

GNATbench is good and getting better with each release.  It also has
built-in support for running the SPARK tools (as does GPS).

Hibachi is an open project and could be improved, but I don't see that
anyone is working on it.

Re: GNATBench : how can I install ?

[Warren]

[-- Warning: decoded text below may be mangled, UTF-8 assumed --]
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 603 bytes --]

=?utf-8?Q?Yannick_Duch=C3=AAne_=28Hibou57?= =?utf-8?Q?=29?= expounded in
news:op.vlojb71vule2fv@garhos: 

> Le Thu, 04 Nov 2010 21:10:50 +0100, Warren <ve3wwg@gmail.com> a
> écrit: 
>> thinking about BBQ'd steaks..
> What is “to think about BBQ'd steaks” ? (sorry if I ask questions
> like a  bot)

What else do you do with a hibachi?

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?
q=hibachi+grill&hl=en&prmd=ivs&resnum=3&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=
18256253342898003145
&ei=gG3UTO6yNsKfnQfnzu3RBQ&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnu
m=1&ved=0CFkQ8wIwAA#

( http://tinyurl.com/2bwao6w )

;-)

Warren

Re: GNATBench : how can I install ?

[Stephen Leake]

"Yannick Duchêne (Hibou57)" <yannick_duchene@yahoo.fr> writes:

> Le Thu, 04 Nov 2010 21:10:50 +0100, Warren <ve3wwg@gmail.com> a écrit:
>> thinking about BBQ'd steaks..
> What is “to think about BBQ'd steaks” ? (sorry if I ask questions like
> a bot)

BBQ is short for "barbeque", which is cooking food over charcoal
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBQ). A "hibachi" is a Japanese charcoal
cooker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibachi).

-- 
-- Stephe

Re: GNATBench : how can I install ?

[Yannick Duchêne (Hibou57)]

Le Fri, 05 Nov 2010 05:08:12 +0100, Yannick Duchêne (Hibou57)  
<yannick_duchene@yahoo.fr> a écrit:
> I've noticed CDT only has the debugging configuration pan (Hibachi had  
> one). I did not test debugging (learned to do without).
>
> It handles file-name refactoring not so well as CDT does. Indeed, it  
> does not handle this at all, and I get crashes when I did some test,  
> like renaming an Ada file, an Ada project name, a GPR file, etc. It  
> tries to rebuild a data-base, then crash and makes all Eclipse crash  
> with it (it does not crash alone, I don't like that). So beware of file  
> renaming.
Confirmed multiple times (not some erroneous operations on my own side).  
If you want to rework the layout of an Ada project (move or rename GPR  
file, move or rename folder), you should either
Option 1) Try to change the layout with “Build automatically uncheck”. If  
something fails, try Option #2.
Option 2) Exit eclipse, and do it externally, then edit the file  
“.gb_project” to update the GPR name/path and edit the GPR file to update  
source names and paths.

Reason: if you move or rename the GPR file from within Eclipse, while  
“Build automatically is on”, it will raise an error about a null pointer,  
probably a failure while it tries to access the GPR file (seems the design  
here is not safe). If to solve it, yf you want to update the GPR file  
location in “Properties” -> “GNATBench Properties”, the whole Eclipse will  
crash at the exact time you click on “GNATBench Properties”. If this  
occurs, you have no chance to solve it from Eclipse, you would better edit  
the “.gb_project” in the project directory.

If GNATBench encounters an error while running an external tool, like  
gnatmetric or gnatpp, then it will leave some folders named “GNAT-aNNNN”  
in the project directory. If you see some, you can safely remove these,  
these are not required directories created by GNATBench, these are really  
temporaries left there after a crash.

Except that boring instabilities that can probably be fixed in GNATBench,  
this works fine (I mean, GNATBench is useful and helpful).

-- 
Si les chats miaulent et font autant de vocalises bizarres, c’est pas pour  
les chiens.

“I am fluent in ASCII” [Warren 2010]