From Newsgroup: comp.lang.ada

Original posted on Nov 8, 2025 at https://forum.ada-lang.io/t/ada-monthly-meetup-november-2025/3913/6
by Fernando aka Irvise <irvise_ml@irvise.xyz> (edited).

---

Hi all,

here are the minutes of the meeting for today's reunion!

* @joakim-strandberg [01] presented the Meridian Open Ada compiler.
A compiler for DOS which anybody can download freely and give it a
test or a full drive! I has a full RTS (actually two!) and you could
try it out for this year's Advent of Code. Additionally, it also
comes with its own, full blown IDE :D! Here are the relevant links:

+ Wiki: "Meridian Open Ada - EDM2" [02].

+ Download page (requires free login): "Download Meridian Ada Z
4.1.4 by Meridian Software Systems, Inc. - VETUSWARE.COM - the
biggest free abandonware collection in the universe" [03].

+ Manual of the compiler: "Meridian Ada 4.1 User Guide (DOS version)
: Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive" [04].

+ Validation report of the Green Hills Compiler which has the
definition of bamp (the linker used by the Meridian compiler):
[05].

+ And there are still DOS game jams, you could even use this compiler
for it! "DOSember Game Jam - itch.io" [06].

[01] https://forum.ada-lang.io/u/joakim-strandberg
[02] https://www.edm2.com/index.php/Meridian_Open_Ada
[03] https://vetusware.com/download/Meridian%20Ada%20Z%204.1.4/?id=17519
[04] https://archive.org/details/MeridianAda41UserGuideDOS/1_Readme/
[05] https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA288573.pdf
[06] https://itch.io/jam/dosember-game-jam

* Nvidia published their certification process for the highest
quality software that one can build for the automotive sector
"NVIDIA publishes SPARK Process to meet ISO-26262 requirements"
[07]. But additionally, some people who work on the safety-critical
systems of NVIDIA's chips, gave a presentation in DEF CON 33 (this
year) detailing their work on the RISC-V architecture and Ada/SPARK:
[08]. It is heavily implied in their presentation that they have
shipped over 1 billion cores running Ada/SPARK!!!

[07] https://forum.ada-lang.io/t/nvidia-publishes-spark-process-to-meet-iso-26262-requirements/2114/3
[08] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhWtkZmOPn4

* @abitofhelp [09] dropped a few new and cool libraries and tools,
such as "Functional Error Handling v1.0.0: Result<T,E>, Option<T>,
and Either<L,R>, Try_To_Result" [10]. Go and check them out!

[09] https://forum.ada-lang.io/u/abitofhelp
[10] https://forum.ada-lang.io/t/functional-error-handling-v1-0-0-result-t-e-option-t-and-either-l-r-try-to-result/3925

* AWS is going into maintenance mode and it is projected to be
archived in the future: "AWS End Of Life" [11]. If you would like
to keep maintaining it, contact @AJ-Ianozi [12] as he is looking
into options about it!

[11] https://forum.ada-lang.io/t/aws-end-of-life/3858
[12] https://forum.ada-lang.io/u/aj-ianozi

* Similar news about PolyORB, it is also getting deprecated in the
future: "Polyorb End of Life" [13].

[13] https://forum.ada-lang.io/t/polyorb-end-of-life/3927/7

* The VSS library has now been split into two! Read more about it
here "ANN: VSS has been split into two libraries and main repo is
now archived" [14].

[14] https://forum.ada-lang.io/t/ann-vss-has-been-split-into-two-libraries-and-main-repo-is-now-archived/3885

* Advent of Code (AoC) is coming and this year it is going to be
quite a bit shorter! "Plans for AOC 2025?" [15].

[15] https://forum.ada-lang.io/t/plans-for-aoc-2025/3930

* The last major Ada 2022 feature that was still not implemented in
GNAT, "parallel", is starting to see the light of day! "[GSoC &
Ada] Working on open source "Ada projects and getting paid?" [16].
Read more about it in the link.

+ If you would like to test it out, you can use @Max's [17]
precompiled GNAT binaries: "Release GCC with parallel - PREVIEW
reznikmm/GNAT-FSF-builds - GitHub" [18].

+ It would be great for people to use this new feature in the AoC
to test it out and find bugs before it is hopefully upstreamed
to GCC 16!

[16] https://forum.ada-lang.io/t/gsoc-ada-working-on-open-source-ada-projects-and-getting-paid/1892/9
[17] https://forum.ada-lang.io/u/max
[18] https://github.com/reznikmm/GNAT-FSF-builds/releases/tag/16.0.0-20251102

* The Alire project now also provides compiled prereleases of GCC
16 in case you would like to start playing around with them!
"Releases - alire-project/GNAT-FSF-builds - GitHub" [19]

[19] https://github.com/alire-project/GNAT-FSF-builds/releases

* We did not get a devroom accepted for FOSDEM, but we are going to
see if we get a stand!

* A reminder that the next Ada-Europe international Conference [20]
will be taking place in Sweden, and we hope to have another Ada
Developers Workshop!

[20] https://www.ada-europe.org/conference2026/

* Wesley and Weston are working hard on the recordings of the of the
Paris' Ada Developers Workshop :smiley:!

* And we hope to release some more news about the creation of a fund
to... well, fund, Ada activities and achievements soon!

+ We are trying to form a Committee that will manage the funds,
select ideas and distribute the grants. We need at least one
more person! If you are interested in participating in the
Committee, please, let me (@irvise [21]) and @sttaft know!

[21] https://forum.ada-lang.io/u/irvise
[22] https://forum.ada-lang.io/u/sttaft

Thank you everybody who attended! If you couldn't, you can find the livestream/recording in [23].

[23] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F93rgu4t9As

Best regards and see you all soon!
Fer
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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.ada

On Mon, 10 Nov 2025, Dirk Craeynest wrote: ######################################################################### #"Original posted on Nov 8, 2025 at #
# https://forum.ada-lang.io/t/ada-monthly-meetup-november-2025/3913/6 #
#by Fernando aka Irvise <irvise_ml@irvise.xyz> (edited). #
# #
#--- #
# #
#Hi all, #
# #
#here are the minutes of the meeting for today's reunion! #
# #
#* @joakim-strandberg [01] presented the Meridian Open Ada compiler. #
# A compiler for DOS which anybody can download freely and give it a #
# test or a full drive! I has a full RTS (actually two!) and you could#
# try it out for this year's Advent of Code. Additionally, it also #
# comes with its own, full blown IDE :D! Here are the relevant links:"# #########################################################################

I remember a Meridian compiler:
John - N0HJ wrote in 2001: |------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"Just so no one gets upset because I didn't let them know in advance, I |
|am auctioning off my Meridian ADA compiler on e-bay. Now, I don't | |normally do this, but I figured it was such a rare item, that someone | |here would like to know. |
| | |thanks for not flaming me (in advance). |
| | |john |
| | |http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1212350413 |
| | |Title of item: Meridian ADA / ADAZ PCDOS Compiler ver |
|4.1 | |Minimum bid: $5.00 | |Reserve price (if any): $0.00 | |Quantity: 1 | |Auction Ends on: Saturday, Feb 10, 2001 at 13:55:57 PST"| |------------------------------------------------------------------------|

It fails ACATS 1.11.

On Mon, 10 Nov 2025, Dirk Craeynest / Fernando aka Irvise wrote: #################################################################
#"* AWS is going into maintenance mode and it is projected to be#
# archived in the future: "AWS End Of Life" [11]. [. . .]" # #################################################################

Why?
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