How to setup alternative path for binding (Gnat ADA)

Question

I try to compile a sample ada sourcefile, using libncursesada binding. Gnat, during compilation, can't find libncursesada, installed with apt-get.

Software configuration : GNAT 7.3.0 xubuntu 18.04

code :

-- hello.adb

with Terminal_Interface.Curses; use Terminal_Interface.Curses;

procedure Hello is
  C : Key_Stroke;
  Msg : String := "Hello, world!";

begin
  Init_Windows;          
  Add(Standard_Window, Msg, Msg'Length); 
  Refresh;                              
  C := Get_Keystroke;                  
  End_Windows;                        
  Curses_Free_All;
end Hello;

Compilation error :

gnat compile hello.adb
gcc-7 -c hello.adb
hello.adb:1:06: file "terminal_interface.ads" not found
gnatmake: "hello.adb" compilation error

libncursesada packages are installed with apt-get :

libncursesada-doc/bionic,bionic,now 6.0.20170708-2 all  [installé]
  Ada binding to the ncurses text interface library: documentation

libncursesada5/bionic,now 6.0.20170708-2 amd64  [installé, automatique]
  Ada binding to the ncurses text interface library: shared library

libncursesada5-dev/bionic,now 6.0.20170708-2 amd64

Files can be fount into this directory : /usr/share/ada/adainclude/ncursesada/

/usr/share/ada/adainclude/ncursesada$ ls -l terminal_interface.*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3115 août   9  2017 terminal_interface.ads

When I compile using a standard binding (Gnat.IO for example), all is ok, so I suppose I must specify where to find this other binding ads file to compiler.

I can't find instructions about this into this binding documentation (libncursesada-doc folder), how to setup for compiling and linking.

What is the recommended way ?

I have read some instructions for other additionnals bindings, like add path to PATH or LD_LIBRARY_PATH into .bashrc. A parameter to add into a gpr file ?

Thanks.

Best regards.

flyx flyx · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-06T14:37:36

libncursesada-dev includes a GPRBuild project file:

/usr/share/ada/adainclude/ncursesada.gpr

So the easiest way to link against it would be to use GPRBuild as build system:

with "ncursesada";

project Hello is
   -- should suffice for your example
   for Main use ("hello.adb");
end Hello;

You may need to set the GPR_PROJECT_PATH environment variable to include /usr/share/ada/adainclude so that the ncursesada.gpr project can be found; I am unsure whether debian sets that up correctly for you.

Having saved the above as hello.gpr, you can compile your code with

gprbuild hello.gpr

How to setup alternative path for binding (Gnat ADA)

1 Answers