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#### 8.5.6 Gnatdist Internals

Here is what goes on in `po_gnatdist` when building a distributed application:

- Each compilation unit in the program is compiled into an object module (as for non distributed applications). This is achieved by calling gnatmake on the sources of the various partitions.
- Stubs and skeletons are compiled into object modules (these are pieces of code that allow a partition running on machine A to communicate with a partition running on machine B). Several timestamp checks are performed to avoid useless code recompilation and stub generation.
- `po_gnatdist` performs a number of consistency checks. For instance it checks that all packages marked as remote call interface (RCI) and shared passive (SP) are mapped onto partitions. It also checks that a RCI or SP package is mapped onto only one partition.
- Finally, the executables for each partition in the program are created. The code to launch partitions is embedded in the main partition except if another option has been specified (see Pragma Starter). In this case, a shell script (or nothing) is generated to start the partitions on the appropriate machines. This is specially useful when one wants to write client / server applications where the number of instances of the partition is unknown.

All Gnatdist intermediate files (object files, etc) are stored under a common directory named "dsa". The user may remove this whole directory and its content when he does not intend to rebuild his distributed applications.