# Making AUnit available to gprbuild **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Tags:** ada, gnat, aunit\ **Created:** [March 11, 2025, 10:08am UTC](https://forum.ada-lang.io/t/making-aunit-available-to-gprbuild/1879 "2025-03-11T10:08:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fatso83](https://forum.ada-lang.io/user_avatar/forum.ada-lang.io/fatso83/32/624_2.png) [@fatso83](https://forum.ada-lang.io/u/fatso83)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 10:08am UTC](https://forum.ada-lang.io/t/making-aunit-available-to-gprbuild/1879/1 "2025-03-11T10:08:07Z")
**tldr; I have installed AUnit per the docs, but I cannot make GPRBuild “see it”** I like doing [“test-driven learning”](https://github.com/fatso83/test-driven-learning) when learning a new language, and so I thought I would figure out how to write the most basic setup for code covered by unit tests. I followed the [AUnit Cookbook on installation](https://docs.adacore.com/live/wave/aunit/html/aunit_cb/aunit_cb/installation_and_use.html#installing-aunit), which basically said to run `make install`, which would install aunit where gprbuild was installed (unless overridden). This seems to have worked fine: ```ada ❯ make --trace install Makefile:61: update target 'install-clean' due to: install-clean-legacy gprinstall -XAUNIT_BUILD_MODE=Install -XAUNIT_RUNTIME=full -XAUNIT_PLATFORM=native --uninstall --prefix=/opt/gprbuild-x86_64-linux-24.0.0-2 aunit Uninstall project aunit Makefile:65: update target 'install' due to: install-clean gprinstall -XAUNIT_BUILD_MODE=Install -XAUNIT_RUNTIME=full -XAUNIT_PLATFORM=native -p -f --prefix=/opt/gprbuild-x86_64-linux-24.0.0-2 \ --no-build-var lib/gnat/aunit.gpr Install project AUnit ❯ v /opt/gprbuild-x86_64-linux-24.0.0-2/lib/ total 4 drwxr-xr-x 2 oscko oscko 4096 mars 11 09:51 aunit ❯ which gprbuild /opt/gprbuild-x86_64-linux-24.0.0-2/bin/gprbuild ``` All good so far. If I now build [`examples/simple_test ` in the aunit repository](https://github.com/AdaCore/aunit/tree/master/examples/simple_test), I get an error about it not finding aunit: ```ada ❯ gprbuild -P harness.gpr harness.gpr:1:06: imported project file "aunit" not found gprbuild: "harness.gpr" processing failed ``` I thought that it would now find it by virtue of being in ` /opt/gprbuild-x86_64-linux-24.0.0-2/lib/`? CoPilot also suggested adding the library to the path of GPR\_PROJECT\_PATH, but that had no effect: ```ada export GPR_PROJECT_PATH=/opt/gprbuild-x86_64-linux-24.0.0-2/lib/aunit:$GPR_PROJECT_PATH ``` I tried reading a bit up on [how shared libraries work](https://learn.adacore.com/courses/GNAT_Toolchain_Intro/chapters/gprbuild.html), but that seemed to imply that the project file of whatever library that was to be shared should include “library project”, and grepping the aunit repo for that string showed 0 results, so I am not even sure if this is a shared library or not … The only way I managed to compile the example was directly referencing the project file from the place it was included: ```ada aunit/examples/simple_test on  master [!?] ✦ ❯ git diff diff --git a/examples/simple_test/harness.gpr b/examples/simple_test/harness.gpr index f445b8d..f0347bf 100644 --- a/examples/simple_test/harness.gpr +++ b/examples/simple_test/harness.gpr @@ -1,4 +1,10 @@ -with "aunit"; +-- DOES NOT WORK +-- with "aunit"; + +-- WORKS: +--with "../../lib/gnat/aunit.gpr"; +with "/opt/gprbuild-x86_64-linux-24.0.0-2/share/gpr/aunit.gpr"; ``` Hardcoding those paths is not a very scalable approach 🙂 What am I supposed to do here to get GPRBuild to see aunit? ---
**Author:** ![simonjwright](https://forum.ada-lang.io/user_avatar/forum.ada-lang.io/simonjwright/32/11_2.png) [@simonjwright](https://forum.ada-lang.io/u/simonjwright)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 12:21pm UTC](https://forum.ada-lang.io/t/making-aunit-available-to-gprbuild/1879/2 "2025-03-11T12:21:00Z")
Gprbuild wants AUnit’s GPR file (`aunit.gpr`) which I’d expect to see in `/opt/gprbuild-x86_64-linux-24.0.0-2/share/gpr/` (up one from the directory gprbuild is in, then down to `share/gpr`). But then, outside Alire I like to build gcc & gprbuild together; could `aunit.gpr` have been installed with the compiler rather than with gprbuild? If you run gprbuild with `-vh` or `-vm` (high or medium verbosity) it should tell you its gpr search path: ```ada Checking configuration /private/var/folders/_q/fvnxz46903z9hjh38fz0lyhm0000gs/T/GPR.35059/GNAT-TEMP-000001.TMP Setting the default project search directories Adding directory "/opt/gcc-15.0.1-2-aarch64/aarch64-darwin/share/gpr" Adding directory "/opt/gcc-15.0.1-2-aarch64/aarch64-darwin/lib/gnat" Adding directory "/opt/gcc-15.0.1-2-aarch64/share/gpr" Adding directory "/opt/gcc-15.0.1-2-aarch64/lib/gnat" Adding directory "/usr/aarch64-darwin/share/gpr" Adding directory "/usr/aarch64-darwin/lib/gnat" Adding directory "/usr/share/gpr" Adding directory "/usr/lib/gnat" ``` (only one of those actually exists!) ---
**Author:** ![fatso83](https://forum.ada-lang.io/user_avatar/forum.ada-lang.io/fatso83/32/624_2.png) [@fatso83](https://forum.ada-lang.io/u/fatso83)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 1:35pm UTC](https://forum.ada-lang.io/t/making-aunit-available-to-gprbuild/1879/3 "2025-03-11T13:35:58Z")
That was it! Adjusting the install path for aunit when installing made it available. **Related question** Is it it possible to adjust the globally searched paths using some environment variable or some setting that GPRBuild will use? The suggested `GPR_PROJECT_PATH` did not seem to take effect, or it was perhaps used incorrectly. Thanks! # Details ## Showing the default project search directories ```ada aunit/examples/simple_test on  master [!?] ✦ ❯ gprbuild -vm GPRBUILD 24.0.0 (2024-08-01) (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) Copyright (C) 2004-2024, AdaCore using project file harness.gpr 33 lines: No errors TMPDIR = "/tmp/GPR.49115" gprconfig --batch -o /tmp/GPR.49115/GNAT-TEMP-000001.TMP --target=x86_64-linux --fallback-targets --config=ada,,,, Checking configuration /tmp/GPR.49115/GNAT-TEMP-000001.TMP Setting the default project search directories Adding directory "/opt/gnat-x86_64-linux-14.2.0-1/x86_64-linux/share/gpr" Adding directory "/opt/gnat-x86_64-linux-14.2.0-1/x86_64-linux/lib/gnat" Adding directory "/opt/gnat-x86_64-linux-14.2.0-1/share/gpr" Adding directory "/opt/gnat-x86_64-linux-14.2.0-1/lib/gnat" ``` This shows that the sub directories of the gprbuild install was not being searched. ## Adjusting the install path for AUnit ```ada make install INSTALL=/opt/gnat-x86_64-linux-14.2.0-1 ``` Now I could revert the change from using absolute directory paths to using global shared libraries, such as `with "aunit";` ```diff ✦ ❯ git diff diff --git a/examples/simple_test/harness.gpr b/examples/simple_test/harness.gpr index f445b8d..a12f6fd 100644 --- a/examples/simple_test/harness.gpr +++ b/examples/simple_test/harness.gpr @@ -1,4 +1,10 @@ -with "aunit"; +-- Requires Aunit to be globally available +-- See https://forum.ada-lang.io/t/making-aunit-available-to-gprbuild/1879/2 + with "aunit"; +-- If AUnit has not been made available, it will need to be included by path +--with "../../lib/gnat/aunit.gpr"; +--with "/opt/gprbuild-x86_64-linux-24.0.0-2/share/gpr/aunit.gpr"; + with "tested_lib/testlib"; project Harness is ```