Hi,

Similar to what already exists for TI msp430 or in TI compilers for
arm, this patch adds support for "noinit" attribute for arm. It's very
similar to the corresponding code in GCC for msp430.

It is useful for embedded targets where the user wants to keep the
value of some data when the program is restarted: such variables are
not zero-initialized.It is mostly a helper/shortcut to placing
variables in a dedicated section.

It's probably desirable to add the following chunk to the GNU linker:
diff --git a/ld/emulparams/armelf.sh b/ld/emulparams/armelf.sh
index 272a8bc..9555cec 100644
--- a/ld/emulparams/armelf.sh
+++ b/ld/emulparams/armelf.sh
@@ -10,7 +10,19 @@ OTHER_TEXT_SECTIONS='*(.glue_7t) *(.glue_7)
*(.vfp11_veneer) *(.v4_bx)'
 OTHER_BSS_SYMBOLS="${CREATE_SHLIB+PROVIDE (}__bss_start__ =
.${CREATE_SHLIB+)};"
 OTHER_BSS_END_SYMBOLS="${CREATE_SHLIB+PROVIDE (}_bss_end__ =
.${CREATE_SHLIB+)}; ${CREATE_SHLIB+PROVIDE (}__bss_end__ =
.${CREATE_SHLIB+)};"
 OTHER_END_SYMBOLS="${CREATE_SHLIB+PROVIDE (}__end__ = .${CREATE_SHLIB+)};"
-OTHER_SECTIONS='.note.gnu.arm.ident 0 : { KEEP (*(.note.gnu.arm.ident)) }'
+OTHER_SECTIONS='
+.note.gnu.arm.ident 0 : { KEEP (*(.note.gnu.arm.ident)) }
+  /* This section contains data that is not initialised during load
+     *or* application reset.  */
+   .noinit (NOLOAD) :
+   {
+     . = ALIGN(2);
+     PROVIDE (__noinit_start = .);
+     *(.noinit)
+     . = ALIGN(2);
+     PROVIDE (__noinit_end = .);
+   }
+'

so that the noinit section has the "NOLOAD" flag.

I'll submit that part separately to the binutils project if OK.

OK?

Thanks,

Christophe