OFF-TOPIC: Ada availability (was: Tree Sitter)

[Óscar Fuentes]

Stephen Leake <stephen_leake@stephe-leake.org> writes:

>> Everyone compiling Emacs has a C compiler, but not everyone has an Ada
>> compiler. 
>
> Actually, anyone that uses gcc can easily have an Ada compiler; it's
> either already there or easily installed. 

While gcc 11.2 is days away from being released, MSYS2 is stuck with gcc
10.3 because Ada does not build. This is the second time on the last few
years that MSYS2 can't upgrade to the latest gcc because of Ada.

I think that MSYS2 will eventually drop Ada support, which is a radical
step because gcc-Ada can only be bootstrapped with gcc-Ada, so once it
is removed it will be a burden to get it back.

I'm afraid that eventually all non-primary platforms will suffer from
this problem, because of the limited resources of gcc-Ada's maintainers
and the small user community.

Then we could discuss the wisdom of depending on a key component written
on a language with very few hackers around ("few" considering that the
scarceness of C contributors is a concern for Emacs maintainers.)

Don't get me wrong, I've heard great praises for Ada from people whom I
respect, so I'm ready to concede that it is a great language. But, as we
all know too well, that's not necessary nor sufficient to be a sensible
choice on practical terms.