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Software manages project code

GPRbuild is a software tool designed to help automate the construction of multi-language systems. Writers AdaCore claim it to be the first tool of its kind; it removes complexity from multi-language development by allowing developers to compile and link software written in a combination of languages including Ada, assembler, C, C++ and Fortran. Users can further extend it to cover new tool chains and languages. It is primarily aimed at projects of all sizes, organised into subsystems and libraries and suited for compiled languages. Designed to work with any version of AdaCore’s GNAT Pro development environment, the tool features a built-in knowledge base that understands the characteristics of compilers across a wide variety of languages. Rather than having to maintain complex rules for building each component of a system, developers specify source location and compiler options; the tool automatically manages their integration into a complete system. Previously, the company says, developers needed to manually link components of multilanguage applications, which relied on in-depth knowledge of each compiler involved as well as of how they interact with each other—a process they had to repeat if new versions of compilers appeared as there was no simple way of collecting and sharing integration data. GPRbuild manages a three-step build process: compilation, post-compilation (binding) and linking.

AdaCore, www.adacore.com