Re: Building the 2021 source release of GnatStudio

[Shark8 <onewingedshark@gmail.com>]

On Wednesday, July 28, 2021 at 6:49:17 PM UTC-6, Randy Brukardt wrote:
> "Rod Kay" wrote in message 
> news:sdr7qu$cuj$1
> ...
> > Ada is touted for its safety, stability and portability. What would 
> > new-comers think when the main Ada IDE, produced by the main Ada vendor, 
> > breaks so frequently (every yearly release, there have been similar 
> > difficulties).
> Since the "main Ada IDE" isn't even an Ada program (primarily being 
> programmed in Python), I'm not sure what it has to do with the reliability 
> of Ada programs. If someone built an all-Ada IDE, then that might make more 
> sense. And in any case, programs like an IDE are almost always installed 
> from binary packages. 
> 
> Randy.

On the issue of IDEs, and in the context of GUI, maybe it would be better to use something like RAPID.
(If it was *just* windows, I'd recommend Rod look at Claw: pure Ada, no extraneous dependency, and supporting a small vendor.)
At this point, I think it would be prudent (as-a-community) to assess whether or not external dependencies are worth their keep, whether it be a library like gtkAda or GNATCOLL, or whether it be another language like Python. I'm of the opinion that these dependencies hurt Ada's reputation & goodwill (respectively and especially among newcomers and packagers/maintainers) more than they assist Ada's community.

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LINKS to Ada-related GUI libraries:
CLA thread on RAPID: https://groups.google.com/g/comp.lang.ada/c/vzajq2ymI0w/m/sOQIfvNRAQAJ
RAPID Website: http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/rapid/ / Paper: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Martin-Carlisle/publication/221444571_RAPID_A_Free_Portable_GUI_Design_Tool/links/55eeeabe08aedecb68fd812f/RAPID-A-Free-Portable-GUI-Design-Tool
CLAW: http://www.rrsoftware.com/html/prodinf/claw/claw.htm / Paper: http://www.rrsoftware.com/html/prodinf/triadapaper/triada.html
JEWL: http://archive.adaic.com/tools/bindings/JEWL/jewl-17.zip