Dynamic loading of module binaries

Hi,

We are using LPC2478 in our system with Keil RTX OS. We use Keil uVision v474. Our code is C based with above 300 files segregated in different folders.

We have SD-Card interfaced with our controller where the configuration files reside. A NAND Flash takes care of saving the binary updates that we do through USB interface. We generate separate binaries for application and firmware.

Currently, our project is such that we have different features in-built in our application that we enable on startup run-time based on xml-based configuration file. These features are like modules wherein the final application may not use all the modules. However, configuration file can be changed to enable any feature since the application binary already has functionality of all the modules.

We already have another thread on this http://www.keil.com/forum/62281/#/msg204403 which intends to selectively compile application based configuration file.

However with this, everytime we change configuration files, application binary needs to be compiled and generated. This triggered another approach than we can think of.

We were thinking of dynamic loading of code the way we see how DLLs or Libs are handled for higher architecture applications like on Win32 applications. We are not sure if the current ARMv7 architecture rightly supports it.

We might put modules as bin files on SD-Card. When configuration changes, specific module binary will be copied from sd-card to flash on-the-fly and will be flashed at particular location on Flash ROM.

For this, not sure how the bin will generated with module only related information. Module contains both logic and data.

Need pointers on how we generate a bin for selective files and how do we dynamically load such binaries.

Thanks,
blueshift