Error in documentation : gnatcoverage plugin with gnathub doesn't parse xcov files, but xml

Hi,

I believe I’ve found an error in the documentation, unless I’m misunderstanding something.

In the GNATcoverage plugin documentation, it states:

Retrieves .xcov generated files from the project root object directory, parses them and feeds the database with the data collected from each files.

However, based on my review of the source code, the plugin actually parses XML files, not .xcov files. Could you please confirm whether this is a documentation error or clarify if I’ve misunderstood the implementation?

Thanks,
ch13

Hi.

Just a note that it is more sensible to ask this question AdaCore/gnatcoverage.
This forum is filled with helpful people, but it’s best it does not become a “please check if I found a bug” board.
It would also help if you gave a link to the source that you reviewed.

Hi @pmnw,

Thanks for your response - GitHub is indeed more relevant for this specific question.

For reference, the issue I’m referring to is in the gnatdashboard project: gnatdashboard/gnathub/share/gnathub/core/gnatcoverage.py at 47d29eb42f1efafa48e624b906d9e19f1aec0842 · AdaCore/gnatdashboard · GitHub

The class description states that it parses .xcov files, but the actual implementation processes XML files.

I also noticed that this project has been archived since 2023. Was this perhaps related to a policy change to make it proprietary starting with version 24.0?

Best regards,
ch13

Indeed it seems from self.XML_EXT = '.xml' used in the plugin source that only “.xml” files are loaded and that the comments were not updated (unless there is some inherent compatibility between xml and xcov that would keep the comments valid).

You can browse the change and perhaps get some answers in this commit:

I don’t know why GNATdashboard was archived, but I suspect this fits in with the broader phenomenon of AdaCore consolidating around alire, libadalang, and so on.
It’s probably best you ask them about this tool.

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Excellent, thanks @pmnw for your answers :slightly_smiling_face: