From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me
X-Spam-Level: 
X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00
	autolearn=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4
Path: 
 border1.nntp.dca1.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!usenet.blueworldhosting.com!feeder01.blueworldhosting.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!nntp.club.cc.cmu.edu!micro-heart-of-gold.mit.edu!newsswitch.lcs.mit.edu!nntp.TheWorld.com!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: Robert A Duff <bobduff@shell01.TheWorld.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: Can .ads be compiled alone?
Date: Fri, 07 Nov 2014 12:14:33 -0500
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Message-ID: <wccppczx79i.fsf@shell01.TheWorld.com>
References: <520f8f3d-b345-4ef8-ac41-ead78edde92a@googlegroups.com>
 <92cf9a5a-52f7-4174-85b6-2629ba21d059@googlegroups.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: shell01.theworld.com
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
X-Trace: pcls7.std.com 1415380450 15395 192.74.137.71 (7 Nov 2014 17:14:10
 GMT)
X-Complaints-To: abuse@TheWorld.com
NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2014 17:14:10 +0000 (UTC)
User-Agent: Gnus/5.1008 (Gnus v5.10.8) Emacs/21.3 (irix)
Cancel-Lock: sha1:6u5kpAKLjFFJ3OiUEe8ls6PkCBA=
Xref: number.nntp.giganews.com comp.lang.ada:190369
Date: 2014-11-07T12:14:33-05:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

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