[HN Gopher] Open-Source Ada: From Gateware to Application
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       Open-Source Ada: From Gateware to Application
        
       Author : Bogdanp
       Score  : 46 points
       Date   : 2025-11-01 15:21 UTC (7 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (blog.adacore.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (blog.adacore.com)
        
       | no_wizard wrote:
       | This is specifically for hardware. Looks really cool!
       | 
       | I've always been confused about Ada the language and its
       | licensing though. I know this project is open source but is the
       | language as well? It's unclear to me, though I may be missing
       | information
        
         | homarp wrote:
         | you have GNAT https://www.getadanow.com/ which is part of GNU
         | compilers
         | 
         | some discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27313294
        
         | tremon wrote:
         | What do you mean with "is the language open source"? The Ada
         | specification is public [0] but not open source -- but the C
         | and C++ specifications are not open source either, in the
         | normal sense of the term. And like with C and C++, there are
         | both open source and proprietary compilers for Ada, see e.g.
         | [1]
         | 
         | What's mostly not open source (FAFAIK) is SPARK, the formal
         | verification framework for Ada.
         | 
         | [0] https://www.adaic.org/ada-resources/standards/ada22/
         | 
         | [1] https://github.com/ohenley/awesome-ada#compilers
        
           | i-con wrote:
           | SPARK tools are also open source. The main tool `gnatprove`
           | is based on GCC as well. https://github.com/AdaCore/spark2014
           | 
           | It's not a community project, AFAICT. Few people know how to
           | build it from source.
        
             | tremon wrote:
             | That links gives me a 404. Does it require membership of
             | some organization before you're allowed to view it?
             | 
             | edit: did you mean https://github.com/AdaCore/spark2014 ?
        
               | i-con wrote:
               | Sorry, yes 2014. Fixed it.
        
           | RossBencina wrote:
           | The C++ (draft) standards are open source:
           | 
           | https://github.com/cplusplus/draft
           | 
           | Last time I looked I could not find an equivalent repository
           | for the C standards.
        
             | AlotOfReading wrote:
             | There isn't one. They publish completed drafts on the
             | working group website:
             | 
             | https://www.open-
             | std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/wg14_document_lo...
        
         | i-con wrote:
         | If you are looking for an open-source compiler, many distros
         | (e.g. Archlinux, Debian and derivatives) bootstrap a full GCC
         | (GNU compiler collection). Sometimes you have to install a
         | particular packet, e.g. `gnat` or `gcc-ada`. There's also a
         | language-specific packet tool `alire` that seems to aim to be
         | somewhat like cargo. It can also install toolchains, IIRC.
        
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       (page generated 2025-11-01 23:00 UTC)