Category Archives: gcc

Code Coverage for Embedded Target with Eclipse, gcc and gcov

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The great thing with open source tools like Eclipse and GNU (gcc, gdb) is that there is a wealth of excellent tools: one thing I had in mind to explore for a while is how to generate code coverage of my embedded application. Yes, GNU and Eclipse comes with code profiling and code coverage tools, all for free! The only downside seems to be that these tools seems to be rarely used for embedded targets. Maybe that knowledge is not widely available? So here is my attempt to change this :-).

Or: How cool is it to see in Eclipse how many times a line in my sources has been executed?

Line Coverage in Eclipse

Line Coverage in Eclipse

And best of all, it does not stop here….

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Tutorial: How to Erase the FLASH with the GNU GDB debugger

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I have several applications where I store application specific information in the microcontroller FLASH memory (see “Configuration Data: Using the Internal FLASH instead of an external EEPROM“). I have run into issues recently with the Segger J-Link GDB server as by default it does *not* erase all the FLASH memory. So the question is: How can I erase all (or part) of the FLASH memory with GDB (e.g. in Kinetis Design Studio or in Eclipse)?

Memory Monitor with Erased Flash

Memory Monitor with Erased Flash

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Tutorial: FreeRTOS with the Kinetis SDK and Processor Expert

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Freescale had announced at FTF back in April this year that they will use Kinetis Design Studio  and the Kinetis SDK for all new Kinetis devices. The switch from CodeWarrior to Kinetis Design Studio (see “Comparing CodeWarrior with Kinetis Design Studio“) was not much of big deal for my projects (although CodeWarrior still has better features), and projects are rather easily portable. However, the move to the Kinetis SDK has been massively disruptive: Before it was easy to move projects from one device to another with Processor Expert, even from S08 to ColdFire to Kinetis. Now with the Kinetis SDK everything is very different. At least Freescale now officially supports FreeRTOS, and for myself as a big fan of that open source RTOS, that was some good news.

Blinking Red LED with FreeRTOS Task using Kinetis SDK, FreeRTOS and Processor Expert

Blinking Red LED with FreeRTOS Task using Kinetis SDK, FreeRTOS and Processor Expert

So in this tutorial I’m showing how FreeRTOS can be used with the Kinetis Design Studio. That makes at least using the Kinetis SDK bit more familiar to me :-).

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C++ with Kinetis Design Studio

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Unlike CodeWarrior, the Kinetis Design Studio (at least in V1.1.1) does not offer a choice between C and C++ projects. That makes sense with the GNU ARM Eclipse plugins, other than the CodeWarrior gcc integration, there is no need for setting up a special tool chain for C++ (see “Compiling C Files with GNU ARM G++“). While this is great, things are not perfect yet, so I’m providing in this post the information needed to properly setup a C++ project with Kinetis Design Studio V1.1.1.

Debug View of Startup Code Calling C++ Constructors

Debug View of Startup Code Calling C++ Constructors

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Putting Code of Files into Special Section with the GNU Linker

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The GNU Linker (ld) is very, very powerful. This time I wanted to put all my Processor Expert generated code into its own dedicated section. This is useful for example to have a bootloader or a library inside a special area in FLASH. It was not obvious to me how to do this with the linker, with some search on the internet and some trial and errors, I finally managed that. And as always with exploring things, I have learnt something :-). So here is how I’m able to put the code of arbitrary files into its own dedicated section.

Code Section for Generated Code

Code Section for Generated Code

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Comparing CodeWarrior with Kinetis Design Studio

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At FTF 2014, Freescale made the announcement that CodeWarrior won’t support all the new ARM Kinetis devices coming out in the future: they will be supported with the free-of-charge Kinetis Design Studio (KDS) instead. As for myself, this is a big shift from a well established CodeWarrior toolchain to something new. A question which came up recently several times in the forums and in other posts is: how do CodeWarrior and KDS compare with each other?

CW vs KDS

CW vs KDS

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Executing Multiple Commands as Post-Build Steps in Eclipse

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The GNU ARM Eclipse plugins from Liviu already offer several built-in actions which can be performed at the end of a build: creating flash image, create listing file and printing the code and data size:

GNU ARM Eclipse Extra Post Build Steps

GNU ARM Eclipse Extra Post Build Steps

But what if I need different things, or even more things?

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Building Projects with Eclipse from the Command Line

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Eclipse has a great user interface (UI). But what if I want to do things from the command line, without the GUI? For example to build one or more projects in the workspace without using the Eclipse UI? With this, I can do automated check-outs and do automated builds.

Performed a command line project build with Eclipse

Performed a command line project build with Eclipse

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Semihosting with GNU ARM Embedded (LaunchPad) and GNU ARM Eclipse Debug Plugins

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In “Semihosting with Kinetis Design Studio” I used printf() to exchange text and data between the target board and the host using the debug connection. Kinetis Design Studio (KDS) has that semihosting baked into its libraries. What about if using the GNU ARM Embedded (launchpad) tools and libraries (see “Switching ARM GNU Tool Chain and Libraries in Kinetis Design Studio“)? Actually it requires two more steps, but is very easy too.

Semihosting Output

Semihosting Output

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GNU Libs with Debug Information: Rebuilding the GNU ARM Libraries

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With my DIY tool chain (see “Constructing a Classroom IDE with Eclipse for ARM“) I get a complete tool chain. I do not need to build that tool chain from the sources for Windows, as all the binaries are nicely pre-compiled and made available. But there is one issue I face from time to time: as the libraries provided by ARM do not come with sources and debug information enabled, I end up with that “No source available for …” message in the debugger:

No Source Available

No Source Available

The solution is to grab the C/C++ library sources from the ARM launchpad site and get it built locally the way I need it.

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