Hello everyone.I want to implement dynamic loading of functions in RAM for a Cortex-M4. It partially works but with a small hack which is not ideal. First I create the binary data for the function by compiling my desired function:
int f1(int a,int b){ return a+b; }
Compilation Flags: -fPIC -msingle-pic-base -mcpu=cortex-m4 -mthumb
From the compiled file I used the scripts from this link to obtain the assembly code for my binary function.
00000000 <__bd19836dd__f1>: 0: 4408 add r0, r1 2: 4770 bx lr 00000004 <f1>: 4: e92d 4200 stmdb sp!, {r9, lr} 8: b403 push {r0, r1} a: f04f 011c mov.w r1, #28 e: 6809 ldr r1, [r1, #0] 10: 4678 mov r0, pc 12: 4788 blx r1 14: 4681 mov r9, r0 16: bc03 pop {r0, r1} 18: f7ff fff2 bl 0 <__bd19836dd__f1> 1c: e8bd 8200 ldmia.w sp!, {r9, pc}
From this data I create my binary function data for my main application:
static const unsigned char binFunction[] = { 0x00,0x00,0x08, 0x44, 0x70, 0x47, 0x2D, 0xE9, 0x00, 0x42, 0x03, 0xB4, 0x4F, 0xF0, 0x1C, 0x01, 0x09, 0x68, 0x78, 0x46, 0x81, 0x46, 0x03, 0xBC, 0xFF, 0xF7, 0xF2, 0xFF, 0xBD, 0xE8, 0x00, 0x82 };
The actual code to execute the binary function from RAM is the following:
const size_t CODE_LEN = sizeof(binFunction) / sizeof(binFunction[0]); void *p = malloc(CODE_LEN); //Allocate RAM memcpy(p, binFunction, CODE_LEN); //Copy code to RAM int (*fPtr)(int,int); //function ptr int startPositionCode=7; //Ideally this should be done by having a table where symbols as stored from the compiled function imagePtr = (int (*)(int,int))p+startPositionCode; int result= fPtr(5,3);
After debugging the code I found out that this only works if I delete the instruction blx r1 from the assembly code manually in my binFunction variable (i.e. removing 0x88, 0x47 from the array)
I noticed I get a HardFault due to r1 having a value of zero which when executes blx makes the program execute line 0x00 instead of continuing to execute the rest of the assembly instructions of the binary function:
14: 4681 mov r9, r0 16: bc03 pop {r0, r1} 18: f7ff fff2 bl 0 <__bd19836dd__f1> 1c: e8bd 8200 ldmia.w sp!, {r9, pc}
I am not an expert on assembly nor on dynamic loading but would be grateful for any hints on how I can debug this issue.
Update:Seems that the problem resides on code generated by the script to load the correct area where the data section is located and load it to register R9. (see line 11 from generated assembly code)
Thanks for the info, I will try to find that post
I did not find a particular post regarding dynamic loading for ARM CPUs. Do you remember something from that solution/post. Until know I am able to dynamically load Position independent code but I am having issues when the functions call static or global variables within the "image". From what I have read so far by default the R9 register must point to the offset table. I tried some approaches but still cant get it to work, I know where my data and bss sections are for my image but what I am still don't understand is how to send this information before the "image" is executed.
https://community.arm.com/developer/ip-products/processors/f/cortex-m-forum/45919/gcc-does-not-generate-correct-code-while-building-pic
Not exact, but may help.