Re: [OT] Gnat cross compiling FreeBSD to Win32 ?

[Stephen Leake <stephen.a.leake.1@gsfc.nasa.gov>]

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

> On 14 May 2002 11:04:46 -0400, Stephen Leake wrote:
> > 
> > You'll have to back that up. Here's an example from my recent
> > experience:
> 
> I don't take on me other peoples lack of knowledge about Debian ;-) (se
> below)

Fair enough.

> NO NO NO NO NO completely wrong! (besides why didn't you get the:
> gnat-3.14p-i686-pc-linux-gnu-bin.tar.gz when you clearly too the binary
> version in windows?)

Actually, that _is_ what I did. Sorry! It was 3.15 that I did from
source. Still many steps for 3.14p.

> Look at:
> 
>    http://packages.debian.org/testing/devel/gnat.html

Well, I want a _stable_ system, not a _testing_ system. Windows NT is
a _stable_ system.

> If you add testing to your apt source.list and then you do:
> 
> apt-get update
> apt-get istall gnat
> 
> and it will install 3.14p and make sure that your other libraries also
> are updated (ex. gktada)

I started down that road, and it was the Debian version of "dll hell".
_Everything_ needed to be upgraded.

I have used 'apt-get'. I prefer "dselect"; it shows a list of what's
available (so I don't have to remember the package name either), and
offers to delete the downloaded package when done installing.

The point here is that this is _not_ trivial. Debian does a good job
of trying to keep things tested and consistent, and I _like_ that! But
the gnat 3.14p Debian package requires too many "unstable" libraries
for my taste. The binary install from ACT was much simpler, just not
quite as simple as the Windows version.

Neither apt-get nor dselect is as 'user-friendly' as Install Shield
when it comes to customizing an installation.

Actually, the Windows version has a different problem; it uses the
Registry. So I can't have two versions of GNAT installed
simultaneously; I need both 3.15a (supported) and 3.14p (public). I've
figured out some of the registry swapping required, but I often find
myself re-installing one or the other version.

I'll stick to Debian stable, thank you!

> > On Windows:
> > 
> [snipped description]
> 
> > Now, if I had picked an app for which Debian has a package avialable,
> > say Emacs, the two are about the same; one click each. Still have to
> > remember the command 'dselect' in Debian, though.
> 
> Absolutely not true. If you want to update your debian system you simply
> do:
> 
> apt-get update
> apt-get upgrade

Ok. So I have to remember "apt-get" instead of "dselect". And I'm
_not_ talking about "upgrading the system"; I'm talking about
"upgrading one application (Emacs)". So I have to remember what
apt-get calls the emacs package. dselect _shows_ me what it is called! 

> and then all packages that have been updated will be installed.
> Besides the integrety of your entire system will be intact as
> apt-get will also install all packages that this package needs. 

Assuming you aren't starting from "stable" and trying to install a
"testing" package. If you are, 'apt-get' will get very lost.

> This you do not have in Windows at all.

This is true.

> apt-get install emacs will not only install emacs, but will also
> install all packages that emacs is *dependant* on. 

True

> This will not happen in Windows.

Hmm. Most Windows install packages I've used offer to install stuff
that is missing; usually Direct X version y or Apple Quicktime version
z. Or they just install the required DLL themselves, sometimes with bad
results. Windows tends to be less "modularized" than Debian, so there
are fewer small pieces that might need to be upgraded.

Granted there is no standard way to enforce the dependencies, as
Debian provides.

> When the current Debian Testing (named Woody) becomes stable in a
> short (hopefully) time, then all you need to do is:
> 
> apt-get update
> apt-get dist-upgrade
> 
> to update your entire system without destroying your preferences etc...

I think I'll make a full disk backup first :).

> Now please tell me how simple it is to update from say 98 to XP :-)

Simple. Make a full disk backup, and buy a new computer :).

A bigger point is that I am _not_ a typical computer consumer. We
should be comparing notes on how to install Myst, or the latest
Quicken upgrade. (What? Those are not available for Linux? oh well,
never mind :). 

-- 
-- Stephe