C++ exception handler on gnu arm cortex m4

C++ exception handler on gnu arm cortex m4

[Markus Klemm]

Hi folks,

I'm using the gnu compiler suite for my arm cortex m4 project. But every
throw produces a hard fault, even on simple

try {throw 4;} catch(...){}

scenarios. __cxa_throw jumps right to _ZSt9terminatev, after
__cxa_begin_catch returns, which should AFAIK never return.

Are there any common problems leading to this behavior?

Specific I'm using Kinetis Design Studio 3.2.0. with the GNU ARM C/C++
Cross Compiler Version: 1.12.1.201502281154 for our FRDM-KV31F.

I also created a stack over flow question with a +50 rep bounty:
http://stackoverflow.com/q/39468524/3537677


Markus Klemm

Re: C++ exception handler on gnu arm cortex m4

[Richard Earnshaw (lists)]

On 27/09/16 09:58, Markus Klemm wrote:
> Hi folks,
> 
> I'm using the gnu compiler suite for my arm cortex m4 project. But every
> throw produces a hard fault, even on simple
> 
> try {throw 4;} catch(...){}
> 
> scenarios. __cxa_throw jumps right to _ZSt9terminatev, after
> __cxa_begin_catch returns, which should AFAIK never return.
> 
> Are there any common problems leading to this behavior?
> 
> Specific I'm using Kinetis Design Studio 3.2.0. with the GNU ARM C/C++
> Cross Compiler Version: 1.12.1.201502281154 for our FRDM-KV31F.
> 

I don't recognize any of the above in terms of an FSF GCC release, so
there's little we can do to help, especially without a full test case.

Have you checked that Kinetis are not disabling exception support in
their libraries?  It's not uncommon for embedded code to do this since
the overheads of exception unwind data and handling code can become
quite significant.  Calling terminate when an exception is thrown is
expected behaviour if exception undwinding is disabled.

R.

> I also created a stack over flow question with a +50 rep bounty:
> http://stackoverflow.com/q/39468524/3537677
> 
> 
> Markus Klemm
> 

Re: C++ exception handler on gnu arm cortex m4

[David Brown]

On 27/09/16 11:31, Richard Earnshaw (lists) wrote:
> On 27/09/16 09:58, Markus Klemm wrote:
>> Hi folks,
>>
>> I'm using the gnu compiler suite for my arm cortex m4 project. But every
>> throw produces a hard fault, even on simple
>>
>> try {throw 4;} catch(...){}
>>
>> scenarios. __cxa_throw jumps right to _ZSt9terminatev, after
>> __cxa_begin_catch returns, which should AFAIK never return.
>>
>> Are there any common problems leading to this behavior?
>>
>> Specific I'm using Kinetis Design Studio 3.2.0. with the GNU ARM C/C++
>> Cross Compiler Version: 1.12.1.201502281154 for our FRDM-KV31F.
>>
> 
> I don't recognize any of the above in terms of an FSF GCC release, so
> there's little we can do to help, especially without a full test case.

The Kinetis is a family of ARM Cortex M4 and M0+ microcontrollers from
Freescale/NXP.  The Kinetis Design Studio is a toolchain package from
Freescale/NXP consisting of Eclipse, gdb (with OpenOCD and other
hardware interfacing), gcc, libraries, device-specific headers, wizards,
etc.

The gcc + friends package is from
<https://launchpad.net/gcc-arm-embedded> .  As far as I know, Freescale
does not modify it at all now - it is taken straight from that site,
though not necessarily the latest release.  The library is newlib or
newlib-nano (both are part of it).

The OP can probably get best support on this setup by posting to the
Kinetis Design Studio forums at Freescale/NXP, or on the forums on the
Launchpad site.

> 
> Have you checked that Kinetis are not disabling exception support in
> their libraries?  It's not uncommon for embedded code to do this since
> the overheads of exception unwind data and handling code can become
> quite significant.  Calling terminate when an exception is thrown is
> expected behaviour if exception undwinding is disabled.
> 
> R.
> 
>> I also created a stack over flow question with a +50 rep bounty:
>> http://stackoverflow.com/q/39468524/3537677
>>
>>
>> Markus Klemm
>>
> 
> 

Re: C++ exception handler on gnu arm cortex m4

[Chris Johns]

On 27/09/2016 22:44, David Brown wrote:
> On 27/09/16 11:31, Richard Earnshaw (lists) wrote:
>> On 27/09/16 09:58, Markus Klemm wrote:
>>> Hi folks,
>>>
>>> I'm using the gnu compiler suite for my arm cortex m4 project. But every
>>> throw produces a hard fault, even on simple
>>>
>>> try {throw 4;} catch(...){}
>>>
>>> scenarios. __cxa_throw jumps right to _ZSt9terminatev, after
>>> __cxa_begin_catch returns, which should AFAIK never return.
>>>
>>> Are there any common problems leading to this behavior?
>>>
>>> Specific I'm using Kinetis Design Studio 3.2.0. with the GNU ARM C/C++
>>> Cross Compiler Version: 1.12.1.201502281154 for our FRDM-KV31F.
>>>
>>
>> I don't recognize any of the above in terms of an FSF GCC release, so
>> there's little we can do to help, especially without a full test case.
>
> The Kinetis is a family of ARM Cortex M4 and M0+ microcontrollers from
> Freescale/NXP.  The Kinetis Design Studio is a toolchain package from
> Freescale/NXP consisting of Eclipse, gdb (with OpenOCD and other
> hardware interfacing), gcc, libraries, device-specific headers, wizards,
> etc.
>
> The gcc + friends package is from
> <https://launchpad.net/gcc-arm-embedded> .  As far as I know, Freescale
> does not modify it at all now - it is taken straight from that site,
> though not necessarily the latest release.  The library is newlib or
> newlib-nano (both are part of it).
>
> The OP can probably get best support on this setup by posting to the
> Kinetis Design Studio forums at Freescale/NXP, or on the forums on the
> Launchpad site.
>

If exceptions are in the build and you are landing in terminate then I 
suggest looking at your link map and linker command files to make sure 
you have included all the data needed by the unwinder. If there is any 
issue with the exception frame data terminate is called.

Chris