Update on Ada packages in Debian GNU/Linux

Update on Ada packages in Debian GNU/Linux

[Ludovic Brenta]

Folks,

Yesterday, my Ada packages have all reached "testing" in Debian.  In a
nutshell, this means that:

- they will be in the next stable release of Debian (i.e. on the
  CD-ROMS and DVDs).  This release is code-named "Sarge" and will
  become the new "stable" release Real Soon Now(tm).  But as always,
  the only release date you will ever get from a Debian developer is,
  "when it's ready" :)

- they have passed certain quality tests, most notably to ensure no
  package is broken by them.

- they are all built using GNAT 3.15p.

For more details, please see http://www.debian.org/devel/testing.

Here is a list of the Ada-related packages that are in Debian:

Woody    testing
--------------------------------------------------------------------
  -      20021112             ada-reference-manual
1.4      1.6                  adacgi
1.0      1.8.4.2              adasockets
3.14p    3.15p                asis
19990519 19990519             gch (GNAT Style checker)
1.2.0    1.4.3a               gnade (GNU Ada Database Environment)
3.14p    3.15p                gnat (GNU Ada Translator)
3.14p    3.15p                gnat-doc
  -      5.3.gnat0.0.20030225 gnat-gdb (Ada-aware version of GDB)
3.14p    3.15p                gnat-glade (GLADE distributed systems)
3.14p    3.15p                gnat-glade-doc
  -      1.4.0                gnat-gps (the GNAT Programming System)
1.2.0     -                   gvd (the GNU Visual Debugger)
  -      20030813             libcharles0
3.14p    3.15p                libflorist-3.15p-1
1.2.8     -                   libgtkada1 (GtkAda version 1)
  -      2.2.1                libgtkada2 (GtkAda version 2)
  -      1.0                  libxmlada1 (XML/Ada)
  -      0.7.13.3             topal
                             
In addition, the two packages gnat-3.2 and gnat-3.3 provide the FSF
version of GNAT.

I believe that these packages together provide a good foundation to
build on.  With Debian, you now get a complete Ada development system
including compiler, debugger, IDEs, and several libraries, all
prepackaged and precompiled for you.  Most, if not all, packages are
available on three architectures: i386, sparc, and powerpc.

Several packages provide libraries.  For them, I always distribute
their files (*.ads, *.adb, *.ali, *.so and *.a) according to Florian
Weimer's proposed GNU Ada Environment Specification
(http://cert.uni-stuttgart.de/projects/ada/gnae.php).  In addition to
this, I always provide a GNAT project file that makes it very easy to
build your applications against the libraries.

If there is software (library or application) that you would like me
to package for Debian, please tell me.  I will try to provide some of
the most popular packages.  The more people request a particular
package, the more I will consider it popular :) I will also tend to
favour well-tested, mature software over experimental releases.
However, as Debian is a volunteer effort, I cannot make any promises
unless you pay me :)

The release of Sarge is nigh!

-- 
Ludovic Brenta.

Re: Update on Ada packages in Debian GNU/Linux

[Georg Bauhaus]

Ludovic Brenta <ludovic.brenta@insalien.org> wrote:
: [GNAT 3.15p in next Debian.]                             
: In addition, the two packages gnat-3.2 and gnat-3.3 provide the FSF
: version of GNAT.

Good news. GCC 3.4 is to be announced soon. It has many corrections
and you can play with limited with. It is fairly easy to build if
you have GCC 3.3.x. :-)

Re: Update on Ada packages in Debian GNU/Linux

[Ludovic Brenta]

Georg Bauhaus <sb463ba@l1-hrz.uni-duisburg.de> writes:

> Ludovic Brenta <ludovic.brenta@insalien.org> wrote:
> : [GNAT 3.15p in next Debian.]                             
> : In addition, the two packages gnat-3.2 and gnat-3.3 provide the FSF
> : version of GNAT.
> 
> Good news. GCC 3.4 is to be announced soon. It has many corrections
> and you can play with limited with. It is fairly easy to build if
> you have GCC 3.3.x. :-)

Yes. If you're interested in the bleeding edge, look at package
`gcc-snapshot', too.  It is taken from CVS HEAD, which will become
3.4.  This package is meant never to go into "testing", it is only in
"unstable".

Currently, these packages have issues with building the GNAT shared
libraries, and only provide static ones (*.a).  The packages I
mentioned all use shared libraries properly.

-- 
Ludovic Brenta.

Re: Update on Ada packages in Debian GNU/Linux

[Michael Bode]

Ludovic Brenta <ludovic.brenta@insalien.org> writes:

> Yesterday, my Ada packages have all reached "testing" in Debian.  In a
> nutshell, this means that:

Good work, thanks a lot. Maybe I should upgrade to testing by now.

> 1.2.0     -                   gvd (the GNU Visual Debugger)

What happened to gvd? Not that I would use a debugger nearly a much
with Ada as with (Visual) C(++), but if I have to, gvd looks nicer
than using gbd directly.

-- 
PGP Key: http://home.t-online.de/home/michael_bode/downloads/michael_bode.key

Re: Update on Ada packages in Debian GNU/Linux

[Preben Randhol]

On 2004-01-27, Michael Bode <m.g.bode@web.de> wrote:
> Ludovic Brenta <ludovic.brenta@insalien.org> writes:
>
>> Yesterday, my Ada packages have all reached "testing" in Debian.  In a
>> nutshell, this means that:
>
> Good work, thanks a lot. Maybe I should upgrade to testing by now.

Actually you shouldn't use testing too much. Testing does not need to be
consistent so it can break your setup. It is better to use unstable or
wait for sarge. However, now as we are close to a stable release I think
upgrading to testing is quite safe. But after the stable has been
released, don't use testing. For more discussion on this:

<URL: http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&frame=right&th=4687df35367c058c&seekm=20030126003006%245b74%40gated-at.bofh.it#link13>

Preben
-- 
"Saving keystrokes is the job of the text editor, not the programming
 language."

Re: Update on Ada packages in Debian GNU/Linux

[Ludovic Brenta]

Preben Randhol <randhol+valid_for_reply_from_news@pvv.org> writes:

> On 2004-01-27, Michael Bode <m.g.bode@web.de> wrote:
> > Ludovic Brenta <ludovic.brenta@insalien.org> writes:
> >
> >> Yesterday, my Ada packages have all reached "testing" in Debian.  In a
> >> nutshell, this means that:
> >
> > Good work, thanks a lot. Maybe I should upgrade to testing by now.
> 
> Actually you shouldn't use testing too much. Testing does not need to be
> consistent so it can break your setup. It is better to use unstable or
> wait for sarge. However, now as we are close to a stable release I think
> upgrading to testing is quite safe. But after the stable has been
> released, don't use testing. For more discussion on this:
> 
> <URL: http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&frame=right&th=4687df35367c058c&seekm=20030126003006%245b74%40gated-at.bofh.it#link13>
> 
> Preben

Testing is safer than unstable.  I use testing all the time.  Testing
is good for you.

Packages migrate from unstable to testing only after they pass certain
sanity checks.  In particular they must have no more bugs than the
version already in testing, must not break any packages, and must
install on all platforms.  The discussion you are referring to is one
year old.  At that time there was change from glibc 2.2 to 2.3, which
is a large change and caused some people (not me) to have problems.
But the problems were there in unstable too.  Now, testing is very
close to being frozen for final release and is suitable for daily use.

-- 
Ludovic Brenta.

Re: Update on Ada packages in Debian GNU/Linux

[Preben Randhol]

On 2004-01-28, Ludovic Brenta <ludovic.brenta@insalien.org> wrote:
>
> Testing is safer than unstable.  I use testing all the time.  Testing
> is good for you.
>
> Packages migrate from unstable to testing only after they pass certain
> sanity checks.  In particular they must have no more bugs than the
> version already in testing, must not break any packages, and must
> install on all platforms.  The discussion you are referring to is one
> year old.  At that time there was change from glibc 2.2 to 2.3, which
> is a large change and caused some people (not me) to have problems.
> But the problems were there in unstable too.  Now, testing is very
> close to being frozen for final release and is suitable for daily use.

As I said, "However, now as we are close to a stable release I think
upgrading to testing is quite safe."

But testing is never ment to be consistent in between stable releases.
Testing completely broke tetex for my while writing my thesis (this
august/september) and I had to get back to the stable release (and also
delete files to get it work again). Same problem with Gnome. The reason
was that not all the package that one needed were available in testing.


-- 
"Saving keystrokes is the job of the text editor, not the programming
 language."

Re: Update on Ada packages in Debian GNU/Linux

[Ludovic Brenta]

Michael Bode <m.g.bode@web.de> writes:

> Ludovic Brenta <ludovic.brenta@insalien.org> writes:
> 
> > Yesterday, my Ada packages have all reached "testing" in Debian.  In a
> > nutshell, this means that:
> 
> Good work, thanks a lot. Maybe I should upgrade to testing by now.
> 
> > 1.2.0     -                   gvd (the GNU Visual Debugger)
> 
> What happened to gvd? Not that I would use a debugger nearly a much
> with Ada as with (Visual) C(++), but if I have to, gvd looks nicer
> than using gbd directly.

GVD was removed from Debian.  It was the only package using
libgtkada1, and libgtkada1 was orphaned (i.e. no longer maintained)
and also removed.  The maintainer for GVD did not have time to either
adopt libgtkada1, or port GVD to libgtkada2.

This is not a big problem tough, since GVD has been superceded by the
GNAT Programming System, which is in testing now.  If, however, you
would like to contribute some time to re-include GVD into Debian, you
are most welcome to do so.

-- 
Ludovic Brenta.

Re: Update on Ada packages in Debian GNU/Linux

[Pascal Obry]

Michael Bode <m.g.bode@web.de> writes:

> What happened to gvd? 

You can use GPS instead.

Pascal.

-- 

--|------------------------------------------------------
--| Pascal Obry                           Team-Ada Member
--| 45, rue Gabriel Peri - 78114 Magny Les Hameaux FRANCE
--|------------------------------------------------------
--|         http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pascal.obry
--| "The best way to travel is by means of imagination"
--|
--| gpg --keyserver wwwkeys.pgp.net --recv-key C1082595

Re: Update on Ada packages in Debian GNU/Linux

[Michael Bode]

Pascal Obry <p.obry@wanadoo.fr> writes:

> You can use GPS instead.

I'm happy with Emacs, so I'm not exactly searching for a new IDE. I
think I'll try to compile gvd with Gtkada 2.2. Maybe I'll get it to
work although it's much bigger than any of my Ada programs. After that
did not work I'll try GPS :-)

-- 
PGP Key: http://home.t-online.de/home/michael_bode/downloads/michael_bode.key

Re: Update on Ada packages in Debian GNU/Linux

[Stephen Leake]

Michael Bode <m.g.bode@web.de> writes:

> Pascal Obry <p.obry@wanadoo.fr> writes:
> 
> > You can use GPS instead.
> 
> I'm happy with Emacs, so I'm not exactly searching for a new IDE. I
> think I'll try to compile gvd with Gtkada 2.2. 

Hmm. If you are happy with Emacs, and not looking for another IDE, why
do you need gvd? I use gdb from within Emacs, and never felt I needed
anything else.

I never actually used gvd, but you can view GPS as just a repackaged
gvd, with some code editing/compiling features thrown in. That's why
gvd is no longer supported.

I have toyed with running gdb under GPS, and it works nicely. One
feature it has that Emacs doesn't have; hold the mouse cursor over a
variable name in the source, and a tip window pops up with the current
value. Cute, but not really worth leaving the One True Editor :).

-- 
-- Stephe

Re: Update on Ada packages in Debian GNU/Linux

[Michael Bode]

Stephen Leake <stephen_leake@acm.org> writes:

> Hmm. If you are happy with Emacs, and not looking for another IDE, why
> do you need gvd? I use gdb from within Emacs, and never felt I needed
> anything else.

That is one point about Emacs I don't like that much. Or I don't grok
how to use it.
 
> I have toyed with running gdb under GPS, and it works nicely. One
> feature it has that Emacs doesn't have; hold the mouse cursor over a
> variable name in the source, and a tip window pops up with the current
> value. Cute, but not really worth leaving the One True Editor :).

That's just like gvd :-) Anyway, I can stay with Emacs and learn to
use GUD (after all I almost never use a debugger), I can keep my old
version around, I can use GPS or I can try to port gvd to GtkAda
2.2. I can learn something about Gtkada from the latter, even if it
doesn't work out. No lossage.

-- 
PGP Key: http://home.t-online.de/home/michael_bode/downloads/michael_bode.key

Re: Update on Ada packages in Debian GNU/Linux

[Preben Randhol]

On 2004-01-27, Ludovic Brenta <ludovic.brenta@insalien.org> wrote:
>
> Folks,
>
> Yesterday, my Ada packages have all reached "testing" in Debian.  In a
> nutshell, this means that:

Great news!!

Keep up the excellent work!

Preben who is reading on the howto build debian packages
-- 
"Saving keystrokes is the job of the text editor, not the programming
 language."

Re: Update on Ada packages in Debian GNU/Linux

[Preben Randhol]

On 2004-01-27, Ludovic Brenta <ludovic.brenta@insalien.org> wrote:
>
> Woody    testing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>   -      20021112             ada-reference-manual
> 1.4      1.6                  adacgi
> 1.0      1.8.4.2              adasockets
> 3.14p    3.15p                asis
> 19990519 19990519             gch (GNAT Style checker)
> 1.2.0    1.4.3a               gnade (GNU Ada Database Environment)
> 3.14p    3.15p                gnat (GNU Ada Translator)
> 3.14p    3.15p                gnat-doc
>   -      5.3.gnat0.0.20030225 gnat-gdb (Ada-aware version of GDB)
> 3.14p    3.15p                gnat-glade (GLADE distributed systems)
> 3.14p    3.15p                gnat-glade-doc
>   -      1.4.0                gnat-gps (the GNAT Programming System)
> 1.2.0     -                   gvd (the GNU Visual Debugger)
>   -      20030813             libcharles0
> 3.14p    3.15p                libflorist-3.15p-1
> 1.2.8     -                   libgtkada1 (GtkAda version 1)
>   -      2.2.1                libgtkada2 (GtkAda version 2)
>   -      1.0                  libxmlada1 (XML/Ada)
>   -      0.7.13.3             topal

You forgot that you also made the charles library available! :-)



-- 
"Saving keystrokes is the job of the text editor, not the programming
 language."

Re: Update on Ada packages in Debian GNU/Linux

[Preben Randhol]

On 2004-01-28, Preben Randhol <randhol+valid_for_reply_from_news@pvv.org> wrote:
> On 2004-01-27, Ludovic Brenta <ludovic.brenta@insalien.org> wrote:
>>
>> Woody    testing
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>>   -      20021112             ada-reference-manual
>> 1.4      1.6                  adacgi
>> 1.0      1.8.4.2              adasockets
>> 3.14p    3.15p                asis
>> 19990519 19990519             gch (GNAT Style checker)
>> 1.2.0    1.4.3a               gnade (GNU Ada Database Environment)
>> 3.14p    3.15p                gnat (GNU Ada Translator)
>> 3.14p    3.15p                gnat-doc
>>   -      5.3.gnat0.0.20030225 gnat-gdb (Ada-aware version of GDB)
>> 3.14p    3.15p                gnat-glade (GLADE distributed systems)
>> 3.14p    3.15p                gnat-glade-doc
>>   -      1.4.0                gnat-gps (the GNAT Programming System)
>> 1.2.0     -                   gvd (the GNU Visual Debugger)
>>   -      20030813             libcharles0
>> 3.14p    3.15p                libflorist-3.15p-1
>> 1.2.8     -                   libgtkada1 (GtkAda version 1)
>>   -      2.2.1                libgtkada2 (GtkAda version 2)
>>   -      1.0                  libxmlada1 (XML/Ada)
>>   -      0.7.13.3             topal
>
> You forgot that you also made the charles library available! :-)
                                           ^^
                                           development (libcharles0-dev)

-- 
"Saving keystrokes is the job of the text editor, not the programming
 language."

Re: Update on Ada packages in Debian GNU/Linux

[Ludovic Brenta]

Preben Randhol <randhol+valid_for_reply_from_news@pvv.org> writes:

> On 2004-01-28, Preben Randhol wrote:
> > On 2004-01-27, Ludovic Brenta wrote:
> >>
> >> Woody    testing
> >> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>   -      20021112             ada-reference-manual
> >> 1.4      1.6                  adacgi
> >> 1.0      1.8.4.2              adasockets
> >> 3.14p    3.15p                asis
> >> 19990519 19990519             gch (GNAT Style checker)
> >> 1.2.0    1.4.3a               gnade (GNU Ada Database Environment)
> >> 3.14p    3.15p                gnat (GNU Ada Translator)
> >> 3.14p    3.15p                gnat-doc
> >>   -      5.3.gnat0.0.20030225 gnat-gdb (Ada-aware version of GDB)
> >> 3.14p    3.15p                gnat-glade (GLADE distributed systems)
> >> 3.14p    3.15p                gnat-glade-doc
> >>   -      1.4.0                gnat-gps (the GNAT Programming System)
> >> 1.2.0     -                   gvd (the GNU Visual Debugger)
> >>   -      20030813             libcharles0
> >> 3.14p    3.15p                libflorist-3.15p-1
> >> 1.2.8     -                   libgtkada1 (GtkAda version 1)
> >>   -      2.2.1                libgtkada2 (GtkAda version 2)
> >>   -      1.0                  libxmlada1 (XML/Ada)
> >>   -      0.7.13.3             topal
> >
> > You forgot that you also made the charles library available! :-)
>                                            ^^
>                                            development (libcharles0-dev)

I listed only the source packages.  Some source packages produce
several binary packages.  libcharles0 (source) produces libcharles0
and libcharles0-dev.  libgtkada2 produces 6 binary packages.

-- 
Ludovic Brenta.