[gps-devel] GPS for Debian

[Ludovic Brenta]

Folks,

I have packaged GPS for the Debian GNU/Linux distribution.  I can send
my package on request; unfortulateny I cannot post it on a web site
because my web site[1] is already full of Ada stuff for Debian :)

While packaging GPS for Debian, I patched the original source code
quite heavily.  The patches are also available on request, they fall
in three general areas.

*Compiling with gnat 3.15p*

Since I have also packaged GNAT 3.15p for Debian, I wanted to use it
(as opposed to the binary distribution from ACT) to compile GPS.
Unfortunately, the source code in GPS triggers an internal compiler
error in GNAT.  The ICE has already been reported on this list before;
I believe it is caused by using a recent version of binutils (namely
2.14.90.0.4) with GNAT.  The changes were in the procedure
Commands.External.Execute.

*Modified libgnat*

GPS comes with some source files from GNAT, and some from the GNAT
run-time library (g-*.ad[bs]) which are more recent than the ones
shipped with GNAT 3.15p.  I have patched GPS to not use the modified
files.  Where additional functionality was available in the modified
files, I have converted them into new packages that extend the
run-time library.  The new packages are GNAT.OS_Lib.Extra,
GNAT.Directory_Operations.Extra, and GNAT.Regpat.Extra (I kept the new
package GNAT.Strings untouched because it did not conflict with the
RTL from GNAT 3.15p).

*Link against GtkAda 2.2.0*

I also made some small changes to GPS so that is does not use its own
copy of GtkAda 2.0.1; instead, it uses GtkAda 2.2.0 which I also
packaged separately for Debian.  The only tricky change was in the
function Glide_Main_Window.Check_MDI_Selection because of interface
changes between GtkAda 2.0 and 2.2.

If you would like more details on these changes, or the actual *.deb
files, please reply to this email and I will send them to you.

PS. I have applied to become a Debian developer.  I hope that I can
include my packages in Sarge, at which point every Debian user will
have GNAT, GtkAda and GPS (among others) in the distribution.

[1] http://users.skynet.be/ludovic.brenta

-- 
Ludovic Brenta.