[AWS] Getting AWS to work without cygwin or MinGW on Windows XP

[Alice Barkstrom]

While I recognize that many applications of AWS need multiple platform
capability, I'm interested in developing applications that only need to run
on Windows XP or, later, on other versions of Windows.  Having to install
cygwin and have potential customers or sales people opening up cygwin
or some other shell gets in the way.

It looks like the GNAT GPL with GPS is capable of simply including the
directories with the ada code, compiling them all, and moving on from there.
I've been successful in doing that with asis and xmlada.  The asis instructions
for installation were quite helpful.  However, I've not been quite so 
successful
with AWS.

There are two items that would be helpful and are missing from the 
documentation:
1.  The AWS documentation should almost certainly note that it was written
using cygwin - and that the command lines for installing
AWS are done from inside cygwin.
2.  The asis installation procedure has a very helpful list of the 
presumed directory
structure.  Given the complexity of a full AWS installation that 
needs ssl, asis,
the windows socket library, as well as gnat, it becomes almost mandatory to
have documentation of a standard test directory structure - 
particularly if you're
an individual developer and don't work with installations very 
often.  I haven't used
make for nearly a decade, for example.

In order to work with GNAT GPL, the individual units need individual names.
The current installation in config and with makefiles appears to 
revise file names
based on selecting the appropriate OS and then uses those distinct names
(notably OS_Lib, although there may be others).  While I understand why that's
being used in the current system, it would be helpful to have an example of
how to create a working system entirely within the confines of Windows XP
(or Linux).  The asis installation procedure appears to do this while 
only changing
a couple of files.

If I can get this to work in the same way as I have with asis and 
xmlada, I'll be
glad to share the instructions with the AWS group.

Bruce R. Barkstrom
Asheville, NC, USA  28804