Re: nios-elf-objcopy S-record length

Re: nios-elf-objcopy S-record length

[E. Weddington]

Swiger, Dan wrote:

>Thanks for the tip... I'll check it out!  As it turns out, I can't find the
>source for my version of objdump anyway, and am reluctant to ask Altera for
>it.  They haven't been very forthcoming with information.
>
>  
>
Not to get into a long OT discussion about it, but obviously they should 
provide the sources if asked....
Though I can understand your reluctance when you're just trying to solve 
your problem...

Out of curiousity, why is the SRecord line length a problem? Why do you 
need 16 data bytes per line?

Eric

RE: nios-elf-objcopy S-record length

[Swiger, Dan]

Thanks for the tip... I'll check it out!  As it turns out, I can't find the
source for my version of objdump anyway, and am reluctant to ask Altera for
it.  They haven't been very forthcoming with information.

Regards,

Dan

> -----Original Message-----
> From: E. Weddington [mailto:ericw@evcohs.com]
> Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2005 12:53 PM
> To: Dan.Swiger@drs-ss.com
> Cc: binutils@sources.redhat.com
> Subject: nios-elf-objcopy S-record length
> 
> 
> >
> >
> >I am currently working with a GNU tool chain obtained from 
> Altera for 
> >the NIOS processor.  Here is the version information obtained from a 
> >'nios-elf-objcopy -V' command:
> ><start>
> >GNU objcopy 2.9-nios-010801-20030722
> >Copyright 1997, 1998, 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
> >This program is free software; you may redistribute it under 
> the terms of
> >the GNU General Public License.  This program has absolutely 
> no warranty.
> ><end>
> >
> >I am currently having a problem of objcopy making S-Records 
> with 21 data 
> >bytes in them and am looking for a solution (21 bytes will be *very* 
> >inconvenient when I go to use these to FLASH a 16-bit device).  On a 
> >redirect from someone, I have been browsing the archives of 
> this mailing 
> >list and found an apparent patch for objcopy that would fix 
> my problem.  
> >Here are the references to the messages I found:
> >
> >http://sourceware.org/ml/binutils/2000-09/msg00321.html
> >http://sourceware.org/ml/binutils/2000-03/msg00346.html
> >http://sourceware.org/ml/binutils/2000-03/msg00416.html
> >http://sourceware.org/ml/binutils/2000-03/msg00427.html
> >
> >Can someone please tell me if/how I can apply this patch to 
> my version 
> >of objcopy so that I may get 16-byte S-Records generated and ease my 
> >life considerably?  Or is there just a switch I need to 
> activate that is 
> >not documented in 'nios-elf-objcopy -h' that I can use already?
> >
> >Thanks,
> >
> >Dan
> >
> 
> [Sorry for breaking the threading, but the Thunderbird mail client 
> stupidly does not yet allow replying to individual posts within a 
> digest. Please CC me in any reply.]
> 
> Another solution to your problem, without going through the hassle of 
> patching and rebuilding Binutils, is the SRecord utilities on SF:
> <http://sourceforge.net/projects/srecord>
> SRecord can manipulate load files of many different formats, 
> including 
> of course SRecord. IIRC, it can do the kind of reformatting that you 
> want. SRecord is licensed under GPL and is known to build and work on 
> GNU/Linux and Windows.
> 
> HTH
> Eric
> 

Re: nios-elf-objcopy S-record length

[Nick Clifton]

Hi Dan,

> I am currently working with a GNU tool chain obtained from Altera

In theory if Altera supplied this toolchain to you then you should be 
asking them for support...

> GNU objcopy 2.9-nios-010801-20030722

As has been mentioned 2.9 is a very old release of the binutils sources. 
  Altera may well have modified and improved them but I doubt if they 
have included the functionality that you want.  Possibly they have a 
more recent release available for you to purchase.

Normally I would recommend that you obtain and use a more recent version 
of the official binutils sources.  The current 2.15 release would be 
good.  But of course support for the NIOS processor has not (yet) been 
contributed to the binutils project.

There are other companies out there that provide GNU toolchains that 
support the NIOS processor and which use more recent versions of the 
binutils sources, but sadly I cannot mention any of them by, especially 
since I work for one of them.

> Can someone please tell me if/how I can apply this patch to my version 
> of objcopy so that I may get 16-byte S-Records generated and ease my 
> life considerably?

You need the sources to your version of objcopy.  Without that you are 
stuck.  With them you are in business.  The "patch" program will do most 
of the work for you although you may need to edit/fix-up some of the 
source files by hand.

Cheers
   Nick

Re: nios-elf-objcopy S-record length

[Daniel Jacobowitz]

On Thu, Feb 24, 2005 at 01:47:38PM -0500, Swiger, Dan wrote:
> 
> Eric wrote:
> > Not to get into a long OT discussion about it, but obviously 
> > they should 
> > provide the sources if asked....
> > Though I can understand your reluctance when you're just 
> > trying to solve 
> > your problem...
> > 
> > Out of curiousity, why is the SRecord line length a problem? 
> > Why do you 
> > need 16 data bytes per line?
> > 
> The reason is because I will be stuffing the S-records into a 16-bit FLASH.
> We have an established S-Record download mechanism that will be greatly
> put-off by the "odd byte" on the end/beggining of an S-Record.  It stands to
> reason, to me at least, that if you are building an S-record for a 16-bit
> device (like NIOS), you'd put an even number of 16-bits in each individual
> S-Record.  
> 
> The other thing that confuses me is that I wouldn't expect this  version of
> the GNU tool chain to be 5 years old, which is when the patch was added to
> the "GNU mainline" (if that is an appropriate term).  The "advertised
> version" of the NIOS GNU tools is "2.9", but I can't find quickly when the
> mainline was at 2.9.

Current version is 2.16.  2.9 would be, yes, about that old.

-- 
Daniel Jacobowitz
CodeSourcery, LLC

RE: nios-elf-objcopy S-record length

[Swiger, Dan]

Eric wrote:
> Not to get into a long OT discussion about it, but obviously 
> they should 
> provide the sources if asked....
> Though I can understand your reluctance when you're just 
> trying to solve 
> your problem...
> 
> Out of curiousity, why is the SRecord line length a problem? 
> Why do you 
> need 16 data bytes per line?
> 
The reason is because I will be stuffing the S-records into a 16-bit FLASH.
We have an established S-Record download mechanism that will be greatly
put-off by the "odd byte" on the end/beggining of an S-Record.  It stands to
reason, to me at least, that if you are building an S-record for a 16-bit
device (like NIOS), you'd put an even number of 16-bits in each individual
S-Record.  

The other thing that confuses me is that I wouldn't expect this  version of
the GNU tool chain to be 5 years old, which is when the patch was added to
the "GNU mainline" (if that is an appropriate term).  The "advertised
version" of the NIOS GNU tools is "2.9", but I can't find quickly when the
mainline was at 2.9.

Regards,

Dan

nios-elf-objcopy S-record length

[E. Weddington]

>
>
>I am currently working with a GNU tool chain obtained from Altera for 
>the NIOS processor.  Here is the version information obtained from a 
>'nios-elf-objcopy -V' command:
><start>
>GNU objcopy 2.9-nios-010801-20030722
>Copyright 1997, 1998, 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
>This program is free software; you may redistribute it under the terms of
>the GNU General Public License.  This program has absolutely no warranty.
><end>
>
>I am currently having a problem of objcopy making S-Records with 21 data 
>bytes in them and am looking for a solution (21 bytes will be *very* 
>inconvenient when I go to use these to FLASH a 16-bit device).  On a 
>redirect from someone, I have been browsing the archives of this mailing 
>list and found an apparent patch for objcopy that would fix my problem.  
>Here are the references to the messages I found:
>
>http://sourceware.org/ml/binutils/2000-09/msg00321.html
>http://sourceware.org/ml/binutils/2000-03/msg00346.html
>http://sourceware.org/ml/binutils/2000-03/msg00416.html
>http://sourceware.org/ml/binutils/2000-03/msg00427.html
>
>Can someone please tell me if/how I can apply this patch to my version 
>of objcopy so that I may get 16-byte S-Records generated and ease my 
>life considerably?  Or is there just a switch I need to activate that is 
>not documented in 'nios-elf-objcopy -h' that I can use already?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Dan
>

[Sorry for breaking the threading, but the Thunderbird mail client 
stupidly does not yet allow replying to individual posts within a 
digest. Please CC me in any reply.]

Another solution to your problem, without going through the hassle of 
patching and rebuilding Binutils, is the SRecord utilities on SF:
<http://sourceforge.net/projects/srecord>
SRecord can manipulate load files of many different formats, including 
of course SRecord. IIRC, it can do the kind of reformatting that you 
want. SRecord is licensed under GPL and is known to build and work on 
GNU/Linux and Windows.

HTH
Eric

nios-elf-objcopy S-record length

[Swiger, Dan]

I am currently working with a GNU tool chain obtained from Altera for 
the NIOS processor.  Here is the version information obtained from a 
'nios-elf-objcopy -V' command:
<start>
GNU objcopy 2.9-nios-010801-20030722
Copyright 1997, 1998, 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This program is free software; you may redistribute it under the terms of
the GNU General Public License.  This program has absolutely no warranty.
<end>

I am currently having a problem of objcopy making S-Records with 21 data 
bytes in them and am looking for a solution (21 bytes will be *very* 
inconvenient when I go to use these to FLASH a 16-bit device).  On a 
redirect from someone, I have been browsing the archives of this mailing 
list and found an apparent patch for objcopy that would fix my problem.  
Here are the references to the messages I found:

http://sourceware.org/ml/binutils/2000-09/msg00321.html
http://sourceware.org/ml/binutils/2000-03/msg00346.html
http://sourceware.org/ml/binutils/2000-03/msg00416.html
http://sourceware.org/ml/binutils/2000-03/msg00427.html

Can someone please tell me if/how I can apply this patch to my version 
of objcopy so that I may get 16-byte S-Records generated and ease my 
life considerably?  Or is there just a switch I need to activate that is 
not documented in 'nios-elf-objcopy -h' that I can use already?

Thanks,

Dan