Re: Can .ads be compiled alone?

[Robert A Duff <bobduff@shell01.TheWorld.com>]

Adam Beneschan <adambeneschan@gmail.com> writes:

> On Thursday, November 6, 2014 9:21:38 PM UTC-8, moixa wrote:
>> Newbie question.
>> 
>> I have only two files, machinery_1_3.ads [1] and machinery_1_3.adb
>> [2], in some directory, when I `gnat compile machinery_1_3.ads`, it
>> told me compile error, (but no further information).
>
> Did it actually say "compile error"?  I get a very different message
> when I try it, and that message *is* further information.
> Specifically, I get this:
>
>   cannot generate code for file machinery_1_3.ads (package spec)
>   to check package spec for errors, use -gnatc

Recent versions of gnat leave out the second line above.
It's kind of pointless -- either you saw some error messages
(other than the "cannot generate code" one), or you didn't.
Either way, there's no point in then typing:

gcc -gnatc -c machinery_1_3.ads

because you already have the information you were looking for.

To the OP:  You should use gnatmake or gprbuild to compile your
programs.  That way you don't have to worry about which files
need to be compiled.

- Bob