Re: [PATCH][ARM] Add support for "noinit" attribute

[Christophe Lyon <christophe.lyon@linaro.org>]

ping?

On Thu, 13 Jun 2019 at 17:13, Christophe Lyon
<christophe.lyon@linaro.org> wrote:
>
> 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