Embedded Programming

with the GNU Toolchain

Vijay Kumar B.
[email protected]

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 What?

C Application

OS C Application

Hardware Hardware

Conventional C Programs Our Case

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 Why?

● Embedded Firmware Development

● RTOS development – eCOS, RTEMS, ...
● Bootloader development – U-Boot, ...
● Programming DSPs
● Testing Microprocessors cores
implemented in ASICs / FPGAs

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 How?

● 3 Example Scenarios
● Hello Embedded World – Add 2 numbers
in registers in assembly
● Add 2 numbers from memory in assembly
● Add 2 numbers from memory in C

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 Scenario I - Overview

● Cortex-M3 Processor
● Writing Assembly Programs
● Emulating Cortex-M3 with Qemu

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 ARMv7

● Latest revision of ARM architecture –

ARMv7
● Cortex Processor – ARMv7
implementation
● Profiles
– A Profile – GPOS and applications
– R Profile – optimized for realtime systems
– M Profile – optimized for low cost embedded
systems
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 Cortex-M3 Features

● Thumb-2 Instruction Set

● Bit Banding
● Integrated Peripherals
– NVIC
– Memory Protection Unit
(MPU)
– Debug Peripherals

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 CM3 SoCs

● SoC vendors license CM3 from ARM

● SoC vendors use it as building block
● Licensees
– TI – Stellaris processors
– Atmel – ATSAM3U series
– STMicroelectronics – STM32
– NXP - LPC1700

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 LM3S811

● Cortex-M3 core
● Memory
– 64KB Flash
– 8KB RAM
● Peripherals
– 10 bit ADCs
– I2C, SPI, UARTs, PWM
– 32 GPIOs

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 Registers

● Load Store
Architecture
● Data processing
instructions –
register operands
● Large register file –
16 32-bit registers

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 Registers (Contd.)

R0 R8
● R0 – R12
R1 R9 – General Purpose
R2 R10
R3 R11 ● R13
R4 R12
R5 R13 (SP)
– Stack Pointer
R6
R7
R14 (LR)
R15 (PC)
● R14
– Link Register
PSR PRIMASK
FAULTMASK
● R15
CONTROL BASEPRI
– Program Counter

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 Memory Map

● CM3 has a fixed

memory map
● Easy to port
software
Peripherals
0x4000_0000
● 4GB Address Space
SRAM
● LM3S811
0x2000_0000
– 64KB Flash
Flash
0x0000_0000
– 8KB SRAM

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 Reset

● SP from address 0x0

● PC from address 0x4
● Address is mapped
to Flash

Reset Vec.
0x0004
Initial SP
0x0000

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 Assembly

label: instruction @comment

● label: convenient way to refer to the

memory location
● instruction: ARM instruction or assembler
directive
● comment: starts with @

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 Hello Embedded World

.thumb
.syntax unified
sp: .word 0x100
reset: .word start+1

start:
mov r0, #5
mov r1, #4
add r2, r1, r0

stop: b stop

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 Toolchain

Assembler Source (.s)

Assembler (as)

Object File (.o)

Linker (ld)

Executable (.elf)

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 Toolchain (Contd.)

$ arm-none-eabi-as -mcpu=cortex-m3 -o add.o add.s

● Cross toolchain prefix - arm-none-eabi-

● -mcpu=cortex-m3 Specifies the CPU
● -o Specifies the output file

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 Toolchain (Contd.)

$ arm-none-eabi-ld -Ttext=0x0 -o add.elf add.o

● Cross toolchain prefix - arm-none-eabi-

● -Ttext=0x0 Addresses should be
assigned to instructions starting from 0.
● -o Specifies the output file

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 Toolchain (Contd.)

$ arm-none-eabi-nm add.elf
...
00000004 t reset
00000000 t sp
00000008 t start
00000014 t stop

● List symbols from object file

● Verify initial SP and reset vector are
located at required address

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 Toolchain (Contd.)

● ELF file format contains meta information

for OS
● Binary format contains consecutive bytes
starting from an address
● Convenient for flashing tools

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 Toolchain (Contd.)

$ arm-none-eabi-objcopy -O binary add.elf add.bin

● objcopy – converts between different

executable file formats
● -O specifies that output file format

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 Qemu

● Open source machine emulator - the

processor and the peripherals
● Architectures – i386, ARM, MIPS, SPARC ...
● Used by various open source projects
– OLPC
– OpenMoko
– Linux Kernel Testing

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 Emulating in Qemu

$ qemu-system-arm -M lm3s811evb -kernel add.bin

● -M lm3s811evb specifies the machine to

be emulated
● -kernel specifies data to be loaded in
Flash from address 0x0
● monitor interface – control and status
● can be used to view the registers
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 Review

● Writing simple assembly programs

● Building and linking them using GNU
Toolchain
● Emulating Cortex-M3 processor using
Qemu

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 Scenario II - Overview

● Role of Linker
● Linker Scripts
● Placing data in RAM

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 Linker

a.s assembler a.o

linker abc.o
b.s assembler b.o

c.s assembler c.o

● In multi-file programs – combines multiple

object files to form executable

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 Linker (Contd.)

Linker

Symbol
Relocation
Resolution

Section Section
Merging Placement

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 Linker (Contd.)

Linker

Symbol
Relocation
Resolution

Section Section
Merging Placement

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 Symbol Resolution

● Functions are
defined in one file
● Referenced in
another file
● References are
marked unresolved
by the compiler
● Linker patches the
references
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 Linker

Linker

Symbol
Relocation
Resolution

Section Section
Merging Placement

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 Relocation

● Code generated
assuming it starts
from address X
● Code should start
from address Y
● Change addresses
assigned to labels
● Patch label
references
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 Sections

● Placing related bytes at a particular

location.
● Example:
– instructions in Flash
– data in RAM
● Related bytes are grouped together using
sections
● Placement of sections can be specified

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 Sections (Contd.)

● Most programs have atleast two sections,

.text and .data
● Data or instructions can be placed in a
section using directives
● Directives
– .text
– .data
– .section

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 Sections (Contd.)

● Source – sections can be interleaved

● Bytes of a section – contiguous addresses
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 Linker

Linker

Symbol
Relocation
Resolution

Section Section
Merging Placement

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 Section Merging

● Linker merges sections in the input files

into sections in the output file
● Default merging – sections of same name
● Symbols get new addresses, and
references are patched
● Section merging can be controlled by
linker script files

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 Linker

Linker

Symbol
Relocation
Resolution

Section Section
Merging Placement

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 Section Placement

● Bytes in each section is given addresses

starting from 0x0
● Labels get addresses relative to the start
of section
● Linker places section at a particular
address
● Labels get new address, label references
are patched

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strlen
 Linker Script

Linker

Symbol
Relocation
Resolution

Can be controlled
through Linker scripts.
Section Section
Merging Placement

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 Simple Linker Script

MEMORY {
FLASH (rx) : ORIGIN = 0x00000000, LENGTH = 0x10000
SRAM (rwx) : ORIGIN = 0x20000000, LENGTH = 0x2000
} 0xFFFF

SECTIONS {
.text : {
abc.o (.text);
def.o (.text);
} > FLASH def.o (.text)
}
abc.o (.text)
0x0

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 Simple Linker Script

MEMORY {
FLASH (rx) : ORIGIN = 0x00000000, LENGTH = 0x10000
SRAM (rwx) : ORIGIN = 0x20000000, LENGTH = 0x2000
}

SECTIONS {
.text : { Section Merging
abc.o (.text);
def.o (.text);
} > FLASH
}

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 Simple Linker Script

MEMORY {
FLASH (rx) : ORIGIN = 0x00000000, LENGTH = 0x10000
SRAM (rwx) : ORIGIN = 0x20000000, LENGTH = 0x2000
}

SECTIONS {
.text : {
abc.o (.text);
def.o (.text);
} > FLASH Section Placement
}

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 Making it Generic

MEMORY {
FLASH (rx) : ORIGIN = 0x00000000, LENGTH = 0x10000
SRAM (rwx) : ORIGIN = 0x20000000, LENGTH = 0x2000
}

SECTIONS {
.text : {
* (.text); Wildcards to represent .text
} > FLASH form all input files
}

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 Multiple Sections

MEMORY {
FLASH (rx) : ORIGIN = 0x00000000, LENGTH = 0x10000
SRAM (rwx) : ORIGIN = 0x20000000, LENGTH = 0x2000
}
0xFFFF
SECTIONS {
.text : { Dealing with
* (.text); mutiple sections
} > FLASH

.rodata : { .rodata
* (.rodata);
} > FLASH .text
0x0
}
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 Data in RAM

● Add two numbers from memory

● Assembly source
● Linker Script

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 RAM is Volatile!

● RAM is volatile
● Data cannot be made available in RAM at
power-up
● All code and data should be in Flash at
power-up
● Startup code – copies data from Flash to
RAM

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 RAM is Volatile! (Contd.)

● .data section should be present in Flash at

power-up
● Section has two addresses
– load address (aka LMA)
– run-time address (aka VMA)
● So far only run-time address – actual
address assigned to labels
● Load address defaults to run-time address

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 Linker Script Revisited

MEMORY {
FLASH (rx) : ORIGIN = 0x00000000, LENGTH = 0x10000
SRAM (rwx) : ORIGIN = 0x20000000, LENGTH = 0x2000
} 0x20001FFF

SECTIONS { SRAM
.text : { .data
0x20000000
* (.text);
} > FLASH
0x0000FFFF
.data : {
Flash
* (.data);
} > SRAM .text
0x00000000
}
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 Linker Script Revisited

MEMORY {
FLASH (rx) : ORIGIN = 0x00000000, LENGTH = 0x10000
SRAM (rwx) : ORIGIN = 0x20000000, LENGTH = 0x2000
} 0x20001FFF

SECTIONS { SRAM
.text : { .data
0x20000000
* (.text);
} > FLASH
0x0000FFFF
.data : {
Flash .data
* (.data);
} > SRAM AT> FLASH .text
0x00000000
}
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 Linker Script Revisited

MEMORY {
FLASH (rx) : ORIGIN = 0x00000000, LENGTH = 0x10000
SRAM (rwx) : ORIGIN = 0x20000000, LENGTH = 0x2000
}

SECTIONS {
.text : {
edata
* (.text); .data
etext = .; sdata
} > FLASH

.data : {
sdata = .;
* (.data); .data
edata = .; etext
.text
} > SRAM AT> FLASH
}
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 Data in RAM

● Copy .data from Flash to RAM

start:
ldr r0, =sdata @ Load the address of sdata
ldr r1, =edata @ Load the address of edata
ldr r2, =etext @ Load the address of etext

copy: ldrb r3, [r2] @ Load the value from Flash

strb r3, [r0] @ Store the value in RAM

add r2, r2, #1 @ Increment Flash pointer

add r0, r0, #1 @ Increment RAM pointer

cmp r0, r1 @ Check if end of data

bne copy @ Branch if not end of data

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 Review

● Linker Script can control

– Section Merging
– Section Placement
● .data placed in RAM, .text in Flash
● RAM is volatile
● at load time .data is in Flash
● at startup .data is copied from Flash to
RAM
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 Scenario III - Overview

● C Environment Requirements
● C Sections
● C Source Code
● Linker Script

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 Doing it in C

● Environment has to
be setup
– Stack pointer
– Non-initalized
global variables,
initialized to zero
– Initialized global
variables must
have their initial
value

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 C Sections

● Sections created by GCC

– .text – for functions
– .data – for initialized global data
– .bss – for uninitialized global data
– .rodata – for strings and global variables
defined as const

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 Credits

● Cash Register – Nikola Smolenski

● Cerebral Cortex - www.toosmarttostart.samhsa.gov
● Reset Button – flattop341
http://www.flickr.com/photos/flattop341/224175619/
● Church Relocation – Fletcher6
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Salem_Church_Relocation.JPG
● Rope Image - Markus Bärlocher
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schotstek_links.jpg

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 Further Reading

● Embedded Programming using the GNU

Toolchain -
http://www.bravegnu.org/gnu-eprog/
● GNU Linker Manual
● GNU Assembler Manual

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