Provided by: adabrowse_4.0.3-14_amd64 
NAME
adabrowse - Generate fully cross-referenced HTML rendering of Ada 95 specs
SYNOPSIS
adabrowse [options] -f file
DESCRIPTION
adabrowse produces a fully cross-referenced HTML rendering of Ada 95 specs (no bodies)
similar to what javadoc does for Java sources. adabrowse is a command-line utility; it has
no graphical user interface.
adabrowse is highly configurable through command-line options, style sheets, and
configuration files.
adabrowse completely takes apart the source code and produces a HTML documentation
containing:
• All context clauses
• Unit header
• If the unit is a package:
— All exceptions (including renames)
— All constants
— All variables
— A type index containing all types and their primitive operations (the latter only
for (tagged) record types, private types, and types derived from those). The
primitive operations list is fully cross-referenced and ordered by newly defined,
overridden, and inherited operations.
— Any other items
USAGE
There are two ways to use adabrowse:
1. Call adabrowse for your spec: adabrowse -f file (and any other options as needed, in
particular -I if the file is not in the current directory or depends on other units
whose sources are not in the current directory!) If no tree file for the given unit
exists, adabrowse will try to generate one.
or
1. Generate the tree files for the specs you want to process by calling gnatgcc -c -gnatc
-gnatt file (with the appropriate -I options, if needed.)
2. Call adabrowse for these specs: adabrowse -f file (and any other options, as needed
[look in particular at -T!]).
adabrowse generates HTML files by default in the current directory.
adabrowse doesn't care whether the tree files have been produced from specs or bodies:
since the tree file of a body always also contains the information on the spec, it can
work with either.
OPTIONS
-h, -?, -help, --help
Writes a comprehensive help text.
-a, -all, --all
Generate HTML not only for the unit given in the -f option, but also for all
application units on which it depends semantically (transitive closure of "with"es
and parent units).
Note that this option processes only the application units in the transitive
closure even if the "-g" option is also given; it does not process any "with"ed
standard library unit. This also means that if the unit given is a standard library
unit, the "-all" option has no effect. This behavior is intentional: you'll
normally generate HTML for the standard library once by processing all standard
library units explicitly, and you don't want to re-generate HTML for these units
each time one of your application unit "with"es a standard library unit.
-c file
Defines a configuration file for the HTML generator. Multiple -c options may be
given; the files are processed in the given order and may overwrite earlier config
settings.
-f file
Gives the filename (*.ads) of the spec to process. This filename may contain a
path! See below for more comments. Only one -f option may be given.
-g If set, adabrowse also generates cross-references to items from library units in
the standard and run-time packages, except for items from the implict package
"Standard". Note: This can also be set by a configuration file key
"Refs_To_Standard". The latter definition wins.
-G output_formats...
Specify the output formats adabrowse shall generate. The -G option must be followed
by one or more output format names, given as separate arguments. Recognized output
format names are html and xml (case insensitive).
-i [file]
If set, adabrowse will generate a package index if it runs in "file input mode"
(see below) or the -all option is set and the output does not go to stdout.
If a filename is given, the index is written to that file (or to stdout, if the
filename is "-").
-is [file]
Same as -i, but generates an index using indentation for child units.
-l Make adabrowse generate cross-references in HTML output using only the line number.
This is what earlier versions of adabrowse (up to and including V2.13) always did.
As of V3.0, cross-references are constructed taking into account both line and
column number of an item. You should use this option only if you have HTML
documentation generated by earlier adabrowse versions and somehow cannot
re-generate that documentation. However, the recommended usage is never to use this
option and to regenerate possibly already existing HTML documentation.
Note that HTML generated with -l is not compatible with HTML generated without -l!
Also, HTML generated by adabrowse 3.0 and beyond is compatible with HTML generated
by adabrowse 2.13 and earlier only if the -l option is given.
Usage of this option generates a warning message on stderr.
-o [file]
Define the output file name. If not set, the output goes to a file with the name of
the input and suffix .html. If file specifies a directory (i.e., ends in a "\" on
Windows or a "/" on Unix), all generated HTML files will be put into that
directory. If the filename is "-", output is written to stdout. Only one -o option
may be given.
A dash as the filename ("-") is allowed only if there is exactly one output format
specified. If there are multiple output formats specified (e.g. both XML and HTML),
output is not allowed to go to stdout.
-p [file]
As -i, but generates a subprogram index over all units processed.
-private, --private
If given, adabrowse will also process the private parts of packages and task or
protected declarations. (By default, it doesn't do so but replaces the private
parts by a comment saying "Implementation defined".)
-q Quiet mode: do not issue warning or info messages. Synonym to -w0.
-s URL Defines the URL to the style sheet the generated HTML file shall use. This URL
should be relative to the final place where you will put the HTML files! Note that
a -s option can be overwritten by a later -c option, if the configuration file
defines the key "Style_Sheet".
-t [file]
As -i, but generates a global type index over all units processed.
-version, --version
Print version information of adabrowse to stderr.
-wi Sets the warning level of adabrowse. i may be one of the following:
0, or e print only error messages.
1, or w print warnings and errors.
2, or i, or a print all messages.
-x If set, adabrowse never overwrites existing HTML files. (May be useful in
conjunction with the -a option.)
-X name=value
Define an environment variable name with value value. The value supersedes any
possibly already existing definition of name in the system's environment for this
call to adabrowse. The new definition affects any configuration file processed
subsequently and also the project file (if any). The name must not contain white
space; if value contains white space, quote the whole definition as in -X"user=John
Doe". There may or may not be white space between the -X and the variable
definition.
-I directory
Define source paths for ASIS. Same semantics as for GNAT. Multiple -I options may
be given.
-T directory
Define paths for ASIS to search for tree files (*.adt). Multiple -T options may be
given.
Note that if you give a filename to the -i option that starts with the letter "s",
you must have a white space between the option and the filename, otherwise it will
be recognized as a -is option. Also, if the filename starts with "-", there mustn't
be any whitespace between the option and the filename, for if there is, adabrowse
will assume the filename to be the next option and handle it as such (options all
start with "-"), and not as a filename.
The same caveat also applies to the -p option, if you want the subprogram index to
go to a file named "rivate": there must be a blank, otherwise, the whole thing will
be recognized as the -private option. (Admittedly this is a rather pathological
case, but it's mentioned here for completeness.)
THE -f OPTION
The -f option has three different formats:
1. If the filename is "-" or "@-", adabrowse reads the unit specs of the units to process
from stdin, one unit per line, until EOF is encountered. Empty lines are skipped. (If
you try this interactively, you'll have to signal EOF yourself. Otherwise, this may be
useful if the input comes from a pipe, like in "ls -1 *.ads | adabrowse -f- ...")
2. If the filename starts with "@", adabrowse doesn't consider it a unit spec, but as the
name of a text file from which to read the unit names, one unit per line. Empty lines
in the file are ignored.
3. If neither applies, adabrowse uses the given filename as the unit spec.
The first two cases are called the "file input mode" of adabrowse. The file may contain
empty lines and comments (starting with the first "#" on a line and extending up to the
end of the line), which are ignored. Note that contrary to configuration files, string
handling for finding comment starts is not done, and line continuations also are not
allowed.
In all three cases, a unit spec is a filename that may contain a path; a possible suffix
is ignored. Note that a unit spec is a file name; in other words, you give test-gen, or
test-gen.ads, and not Test.Gen. The reason is simply that for most shell scripting
languages, it is easier to work with filenames than to massage them into unit names (e.g.
by replacing dashes by dots). Also, if you have krunched file names, there is no simple
connection between the file name and the unit name.
If a unit spec contains a path, the HTML file for that unit is placed into that directory
unless overridden by a -o option. Note that if the unit spec contains a path, you'll most
probably also have to set a -T or -I option, unless you do happen to have the ASIS
information available directly (i.e., a tree file for the unit in the current directory;
but that's not exactly typical).
In file input mode, the -o option (if given at all) may either be "-" (in which case all
output goes to stdout) or specify a directory, but must not specify a file.
adabrowse assumes a GNAT-like naming scheme for source and HTML files. It also assumes
that there is one library unit per file. As of V1.4, adabrowse can handle krunched file
names in the -f option, provided it can find a source file, and it has the extension .ads.
If so, adabrowse opens and parses the source file to extract the unit name, instead of
deriving it directly from the file name. Note that generated files always have names based
on the unit name, not the original file name: i.e., output file names will never be
krunched.
Generated HTML files always have the suffix ".html" (not ".htm").
INDEX GENERATION
Index generation is active when adabrowse is told to process several units, and the output
does not go to stdout (when the -o- option has been given).
There are several options controlling index generation:
-i or -is Switches on generation of a unit index.
-p Switches on generation of a subprogram index.
-t Switches on generation of a type index.
All these options take an optional filename as a parameter. If a filename follows, the
index will be written to that file (or to stdout, if the filename happens to be "-"). If
no filename is given, some default name is chosen.
All these options are actually maintained only for backwards compatibility reasons. As of
V4.0, indices are defined primarily through configuration file entries, not on the command
line. In order not to break existing scripts using command line options of earlier
adabrowse versions, these options are still available.
adabrowse assumes it will process several units in the following cases:
• In file input mode (-f @file_name or -f-).
• When using a project file (-P project_file_name). This option is disabled in Debian.
• When the -all option is given.
If no filename is given, or it doesn't contain a path, it depends upon the setting of
other options where the index will be placed:
• In file input mode, if a -o option is given, it must specify a directory. All HTML
files, including the index, will be put into that directory.
• If no -o option is given, but the first unit spec contains a path, the index is put
into the directory designated by that path.
• If not in file input mode, but the -all option has been given, the -o option may
specify a file name. The index is put into the directory designated by the path part
of that file name (the current directory, if the filename doesn't contain a path).
• If using a project file, the indices are written into the ADABROWSE_OUTPUT directory.
• Otherwise, this index is put in the current directory.
If a filename containing a path is given, the index will be placed into that file in the
given directory. If the filename contains only a path, adabrowse will use that path and
create an index named "index.html" in the designated directory.
If a -x option is given (inhibiting overwriting of existing HTML files) and a file exists
already in the place where adabrowse wants to put the index, no index will be generated
and adabrowse will issue a warning. It'll also warn if it cannot generate an index for any
other reasons, but will otherwise continue processing.
SEE ALSO
gnatgcc(1), gnatkr(1)
The full user's guide in /usr/share/doc/adabrowse.
BUGS
The Debian package of adabrowse does not have the Project Manager feature; the
command-line option -P project_file is therefore disabled.
AUTHOR
adabrowse and the accompanying documentation was written by Thomas Wolf <twolf@acm.org>.
Ludovic Brenta <ludovic@ludovic-brenta.org> merely turned part of the user's guide into
this manual page for the Debian project.