lab_instructions.md

Lab Instructions

Install Alire

What is Alire ?

Alire is the package manager for the Ada programming language.
Alire is to Ada like what pip is to Python.

Why you need Alire:

Alire is crucial to building and compiling this project.

MacOS

Download Alire for MacOS:

• Navigate to https://github.com/alire-project/alire/releases/latest
• Download the file named alr-[latest_version]-bin-x86_64-macos.zip, where [latest_version] will be the most current version number.
• Unzip the downloaded file.
• Rename the unzipped folder to just alire.

Add the alr binary to your path:

• Open the terminal and run:

echo "$HOME/Downloads/alire/bin" | sudo tee /etc/paths.d/alr_config > /dev/null

• Change the permission of the created file with the following command:

sudo chmod 644 /etc/paths.d/alr_config

• Update the machine's PATH:

/usr/libexec/path_helper -s

• Check if alr is recognized: Run the command below. It should return a valid path. If not, restart the installation.

which alr

Cloning the lab starter repository:

• Create a folder on your local machine.
• Navigate to this location in the terminal using the cdcommand:

cd [your-path-to-created-folder]

• Execute the following command in the terminal:

git clone https://github.com/GNAT-Academic-Program/lab_rsa

Download Visual Studio Code for MacOS:

• Navigate to https://code.visualstudio.com/sha/download?build=stable&os=darwin-universal
• Unzip the downloaded file.
• Open the unzipped file.

NOTE: Brew for MacOS may be helpful for this installation. The instructions to install Brew can be found at: https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/visual-studio-code

Installing the Ada & SPARK Extension for Visual Studio Code:

• Click on the extension button in Visual Studio Code that looks like the following:
• Search for "Ada & SPARK"
  
• Once you find the correct version (as seen below), click "Install".

Opening the lab project files:

• On the home page, click 'Open Folder'. Alternatively, you can find the option to 'Open Folder' through: File -> Open folder
• Navigate to the Gihub repository that you cloned in the previous steps. Select Open.