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Software tool manages project code in multiple languages

Links high-level code in Ada, C, C++ and others to manage project complexity

28th September 2007 - GPRbuild is a software tool designed to help automate the construction of multi-language systems. Said by writers AdaCore 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 toolchains and languages. It is primarily aimed at projects, of all sizes, organised into subsystems and libraries and is suited for compiled languages. Designed to work with any version of AdaCore's GNAT Pro development environment GPRbuild 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 components of a system, developers specify sources location and compiler options. GPRbuild automatically manages their integration into a complete system. Previously, the company says, developers needed to manually link components of multi-language applications, which relied on in-depth knowledge of each compiler involved as well as how they interact with each other – a process thye had to repeat if new versions of compilers were used 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.