Why not gnat Ada in gcc?

[Robert Dewar]

Laurent Guerby asks

<<I don't know if ACT has debated the issue, but assuming the GNAT
sources end up in the GCC CVS repository what will be the updating
policy between the ACT tree and the public GCC one? One massive update
from ACT per public GNAT version? Minor updates when GCC backend
interface changes are made that break the compilation of the Ada
frontend? Or more frequent updates?
>>

Certainly new releases of GNAT always have major additions, which will
result in a fairly massive update to the tree (as has happened with
other GNU tools when major updates are made). We will also provide minor
updates and patches as we go along to correct significant problems or
deal with interface changes.

<<If some people want to develop non trivial patches to GNU Ada
(affecting multiple files), how should they proceed (I assume by first
contacting ACT, but then)?
>>

These patches should be submitted to someone with write access to the
tree in the usual manner. Ada Core Technologies will of course follow
any such patches, and incorporate them where appropriate (or correct
them where this is needed).

<<PS: I promised on this list I would package a test suite and a
performance test suite if the GNAT sources go in the GCC CVS tree.
>>

That would certainly be helpful, in particular, packaging the latest
ACVC test suite will be very useful.