Re: GNAT packages in Linux distributions

["Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de>]

On Sun, 09 May 2010 20:16:27 +0200, Ludovic Brenta wrote:

> Dmitry A. Kazakov writes on comp.lang.ada:
>> For more than a year I has been using either GNAT Pro or GNAT
>> GPL. Recently I installed Fedora and Debian GNAT distributions and
>> discovered that basically all two years old bugs known to me are still
>> present. Some of these bugs were fixed in GNAT GPL 2009, others in
>> GNAT Pro 6.3.
>>
>> So my question is: is there any information or summary on the Web
>> about how Linux distributions are related to AdaCore releases? Or
>> maybe somebody knowledgeable could create and maintain this as a wiki
>> etc.
> 
> http://people.debian.org/~lbrenta/debian-ada-policy.html

Thanks. I was aware of the document, but didn't read it thoroughly.

> See section 2.3.4 FSF releases and (now outdated) Appendix B. You will
> see that the GCC 4.3 you are using is roughly equivalent to GNAT GPL
> 2007; Debian testing has GCC 4.4 which is roughly equivalent to GNAT GPL
> 2008.

I.e.

2010 - 2008 = 2 (Fedora - gprbuild, GPS, GNADE ODBC, APQ)
2010 - 2007 = 3 (Debian + gprbuild, GPS, GNADE ODBC, APQ)

Right?

> Note that I backport some bug fixes into the Debian version of
> GCC.

Do you have access to AdaCore wavefronts?

>> It is important with respect to submitting bug reports. I already did
>> some to Debian. But then I started to discover more and more. Because
>> the bugs I am talking about are known fixed, in my eyes, it does not
>> make any sense to submit them again. (Provided, GNAT will not be
>> developed independently on AdaCore, rather than merely packaged)
> 
> "known fixed" to whom?

To me. Many I have already forgotten, it is two years since then...

> The bug database at AdaCore is private (and with good reason).

Whatever reasons might be, they aren't good. (:-()

> If you
> use the FSF version of GNAT, you should use the corresponding bug
> database: Debian, Fedora or GCC upstream.

Hmm, that would make sense only for bugs related to the compiler
environment, packaging etc. If the bug is a compiler problem, there is no
chance it can be fixed unless somebody is working on the compiler itself.
For example, there is a bug in assignment of controlled objects. It crashes
Debian, leaks in Fedora, fixed in GPL 2009. Should it be reported? Where
to?

> There are a few contributors external to AdaCore that provide bug fixes
> into the FSF GCC, sometimes ahead of AdaCore; I normally backport such
> fixes into the Debian version.  Eventually, all bug fixes end up in both
> GNAT Pro/GPL and in FSF GCC.  The keyword is "eventually"; the time lag
> can be months or years as you noted.

So, when (if) GNAT GPL 2010 come, nothing will sufficiently change for FSF?
That is very disappointing. I hoped to jump off the GPL track (not because
of the license issue).

-- 
Regards,
Dmitry A. Kazakov
http://www.dmitry-kazakov.de