Ada Connection 2011 - Implementing a Software Product Line for a complex Avionics System

Here's this Monday's installment from the Ada Connection 2011 talks. Frank Dordowsky from ESG and Richard Bridges from Eurocopter talk about Implementing a Software Product Line for a complex Avionics System

A new film added every Monday. To view all the films we've added to date, please visit the Ada Lecture Series.

Quick fix alternative for unreferenced objects
Two alternatives are now suggested to "quick fix" an unreferenced object: the user may remove the object declaration, or add a pragma Unreferenced.

Better error message for volatile argument passing
The error message for passing a volatile by reference argument to a non- volatile actual now points to the actual instead of the call, and includes the name of the formal.

GPS: Automatic removal of Subversion errors
Errors emitted by Subversion are removed from the Locations view when the file containing errors is successfully committed or reverted.

GPS: new Editor action “toggle wrapping”
A new action "toggle wrapping" is defined in the plugin text_utils.py, and can be associated to a key binding in the Key Shortcuts editor to conveniently switch between no wrapping and word wrapping in the current editor.

Templates parser now supports Utf-8 BOM
The templates parser now support files with leading Utf-8 BOM.

Templates parser now supports Utf-8 BOM
The templates parser now support files with leading Utf-8 BOM.

GPS: Navigation from Ada to C++
It is now possible to navigate from Ada sources to entities imported from C++.

Support for Self_Location / Boot_Location
Support for pragmas Boot_Location and Self_Location in the po_gnatdist configuration file, and for boot_location and self_location runtime parameters, has been implemented. These allow the specification of the host and port used by a partition (self_location) and by the main partition (boot_location). Gnatdist configuration example:

  pragma Boot_Location ("tcp", "myhost:1234");

  [dsa]
  boot_location=tcp://myhost:1234

GPS: Comments associated with bodies in tooltip
GPS now recognizes more cases of comments associated with subprogram bodies when displaying tooltips in the source editor.

Ada Connection 2011 - An Overview of DO-178C/ED-12C

Here's this Monday's installment from the Ada Connection 2011 talks. Dewi Daniels from Verocel gives an Overview of DO-178C/ED-12C

A new film added every Monday. To view all the films we've added to date, please visit the Ada Lecture Series.

Loop rewrite message is now informational
The message noting that an explicit backwards goto has been rewritten as a loop is now labeled as an informational (info:) message, since there is no reason to consider this as something requiring a warning.

GPS: Codefix support for unrequired out-mode
Added support to automatically fix source code for which the GNAT compiler ouputs warnings regarding in-out formal parameters.

Use DWARF debugging information on AIX
To improve the debugging experience, DWARF debugging information is now emitted instead of stabs on AIX. In order to support this format, GNU as and GNU ld are now used instead of the native assembler and linker. To support large programs with these GNU tools, use -mminimal-toc during compilation instead of -bbigtoc linker switch.

GPS: Update of GNATCoverage integration
GPS integration with GNATCoverage has been improved to support new targets and MCDC analysis in 'run' mode.

Better detection of pragma Atomic invalidity
The compiler now catches more cases of invalid use of pragma Atomic on components of record types at compile time.

Removed megaspark executable
Since the main data structures in the Examiner are now dynamic there is no need to supply a megaspark executable anymore. Previous users of megaspark can simply use spark instead.

Better warnings for useless modifications
The warnings for the case of a useless modification now do a better job of distinguishing between modifications from assignments and modifications that result from a call with an OUT parameter.

Better detection of pragma Long_Float inconsistency
The compiler catches more cases of inconsistent use of pragma Long_Float at compile time. This gives better messages earlier, and also avoids some blowups due to inconsistent usage.

More accurate debugger backtraces on ia64-hpux
On ia64-hpux, the debugger was sometimes printing the wrong function name for a given address. This can happen when getting a backtrace, for instance. This problem is caused by a bug in the system linker, which causes the wrong address for certain shared library symbols to be provided to the debugger. The debugger has been enhanced to identify such erroneous entries, and get the correct addresses elsewhere.

Better warnings for useless modifications
The warnings for the case of a useless modification now do a better job of distinguishing between modifications from assignments and modifications that result from a call with an OUT parameter.

Better detection of pragma Long_Float inconsistency
The compiler catches more cases of inconsistent use of pragma Long_Float at compile time. This gives better messages earlier, and also avoids some blowups due to inconsistent usage.

More accurate debugger backtraces on ia64-hpux
On ia64-hpux, the debugger was sometimes printing the wrong function name for a given address. This can happen when getting a backtrace, for instance. This problem is caused by a bug in the system linker, which causes the wrong address for certain shared library symbols to be provided to the debugger. The debugger has been enhanced to identify such erroneous entries, and get the correct addresses elsewhere.

Ada Connection 2011 - Ada based Automatic Code Generation Tools in DO178B context

Here's this Monday's installment from the Ada Connection 2011 talks. Jean-Charles Dalbin from Airbus talks about Ada based Automatic Code Generation Tools in DO178B context

A new film added every Monday. To view all the films we've added to date, please visit the Ada Lecture Series.

GPS: Merge /Tools/GNAT Runtime/Ada05 with Ada menu
GPS had two menus to show the contents of the runtime, where the Ada05 specific units were shows in a separate menu. This is no longer useful, and these units are now displayed along with the rest of the runtime.

AI-0036 Enumeration_IO.Put with line length /= 0
This AI clarifies that if an enumeration literal is output with a width field, then the whole output must fit on one line. If this is not possible layout error is raised (previously the literal and the padding could be on separate lines).

More consistent handling of float divide by zero
The compiler used to always generate a warning and a constraint error at run time if it detected a float divide by zero. Now, to be more consistent with normal run-time behavior, in the unconstrained case, the compiler warns that an infinity may be generated and does not generate a constraint error.

More consistent handling of float divide by zero
The compiler used to always generate a warning and a constraint error at run time if it detected a float divide by zero. Now, to be more consistent with normal run-time behavior, in the unconstrained case, the compiler warns that an infinity may be generated and does not generate a constraint error.

Add support for CC and BCC in SMTP API
All SMTP.Client.Send routines are not supporting CC (Carbon Copy) and BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) recipients.

ECL: GNATbench needs launch configs for Ada
Added Ada-specific launch configurations for local and remote debugging, attaching to a running process, and post-mortem debugging.

ECL: Missing right-click debug options in editor
The Ada editor now supports debug context menu items for "run to line," "move to line," "resume at line," and "add watch expression." The Ada editor ruler context menu items "toggle breakpoint," "enabled/disable breakpoint," and "breakpoint properties" have also been added.

Removed dependency of “install” on “all”
The "install" target in the main PolyORB Makefile has no dependency on "all" anymore, which avoids a costly recheck of dependencies. (As a result, the "all" target must now be built explicitly prior to "make install".)

Ada Connection 2011 -  Detecting High-Level Synchronization Errors in Parallel Programs

Here's this Monday's installment from the Ada Connection 2011 talks. Erhard Plodereder from Stuttgart University talks about Detecting High-Level Synchronization Errors in Parallel Programs.

A new film added every Monday. To view all the films we've added to date, please visit the Ada Lecture Series.

Display of Ravenscar tasks name in GDB
The GDB debugger now displays the name of the tasks on bareboard ports when a Ravenscar run-time library is used.

HTTP_Connection is now a controlled object
The HTTP_Connection object is now controlled. The finalization ensure that the socket is properly closed. This avoids memory leak if close is not explicitly called.

Flow Analyser and VCG Heaps now dynamic
The main data structures in the flow analyser and VC generator have been re-implemented so they dynamically extend themselves rather than hit a fixed capacity limit.

AI-0053 Aliased views of unaliased objects
In Ada 2005, an extended return statement can be used to obtain an aliased view of an unalized object. This introduces problems when the object is of a type that is not immutably limited, because in that case the object is not necessarily built in place. In Ada 2012, the aliased keyword cannot be used in the declaration of a return object.