Re: Ada policy

[Geoffrey Keating <geoffk at geoffk dot org>]

Zack Weinberg <zack@codesourcery.com> writes:

> http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc/2004-02/msg00859.html

I believe when I looked at this, I thought everything in it was reasonable.

I would actually add two extra requirements, which are the reasons why
*I* don't build or test Ada:

1. Since the Ada compiler cannot be bootstrapped from most system
   compilers, it must be at least as easy, if not easier, to
   cross-compile it from a system which does have GNAT installed.  At
   a minimum, it must be possible to easily build a cross Ada compiler
   for the other system, even when the other target is a host
   (including hosts for which binutils is not readily available, like
   AIX and Darwin), and then use that to build a native Ada compiler
   for the other system.

2. Since the Ada compiler and tools must be installed in binary form
   on the other system (because there is no compiler to build it from
   source), they must be fully relocatable, that is they must be able to
   be installed in any location; because the person doing the
   installation may not be able (or willing) to write it to /usr/local
   or wherever it was originally built for.  (I know the C compilers
   already do this, I am not sure if it really works for Ada).