Re: Adding files for Ada

[kenner at vlsi1 dot ultra dot nyu dot edu (Richard Kenner)]

    Could you post a tarball of the exact files you propose to add and give
    people a few days to comment on it first?  There are plenty of aspects
    people might comment on without needing to know Ada.

I could, but I don't see what the point is: they are all in a separate
directory and people can more easily comment on them once they are in the
CVS than as a tar file (there are about 1700 files for a total of 50 MB).

    Is a testsuite included in this initial set of files?

No.  There is somebody who has volunteered to try to repackage the Ada
validation tests into a format that's compatible with GCC, though.  I
have no idea what his schedule is.  There are also some tests written by
ACT that can likewise be packaged.  Unfortunately, the bulk of the regression
suite is proprietary code submitted by ACT's customers.

    Where do the runtime libraries go?  In this subdirectory, or in
    subdirectories of toplevel (the latter being where other languages
    place them)?

They are presently in the same directory as the compiler sources.  There have
been discussions about splitting off the library, but it has never gotten far
because I was told it would complicate the release process.  I have no
opinion on that issue myself.

    Could all extant old GNAT releases be put up for FTP in
    /pub/gcc/old-releases/?

I suppose, though I don't know where to find them.

    Will you be writing the documentation for doc/install.texi on how to
    install the Ada compiler (including as a cross compiler or cross
    compiling it to build it for a new target) and what you already need
    installed to do this?

I wasn't planning to, but I suppose I can.  There's no a whole lot to add,
since it basically builds like the rest of GCC with the exception of one more
"make" to build the library and tools.

    Will you be adding GNU Ada web pages to gcc.gnu.org?

No, I'm not a "web person".

    Will Ada have any new mailing lists on gcc.gnu.org, or just use the 
    existing gcc/gcc-bugs/gcc-patches/...?

This is something that's been talked about a bit and the feeling right now
seems to be to use existing mailing lists until we get a better sense of
what the volume is likely to be.

    * write an announcement for gcc-announce;

I don't see why: we're not releasing anything: we're just adding the
files.  It will be in the GCC 3.1 release and can be mentioned in that
announcement.