Self-contained C module or PIC

Building the module as a separate project, is an acceptable solution. But my startup.s file in this project can not declare any stack, heap or vectors, because the code won't (and can't!) make use of them in a standalone way. This applies mainly to the stack. So my startup code should look like

IMPORT my_access_function_exec
AREA DATA,READONLY
DCD my_access_function_exec
END

Right?

The only lame thing about it is, I can't run or debug it without the main app. And debugging this code from within the main app will be a bit nasty, too...

I really like the idea of using an executable format and a separate loader. But how to make an executable image like this? I would prefere an elf file which is easy to parse and interpret. I do have some knowledge about DLLs, also. It is no problem to build a DLL for Windoze on a PC (I have done this many times), but I have no clue how to build modules, which would work in a similar way, using Keil.
And building them is only one thing, the other is to debug them in a usual way like any other app...

How much debugging do you need to be doing on the embedded system? If it's C code not tied to any specific hardware resources you can test/validate on a more capable system.

Not sure of the purpose of this module/overlay scheme, but you could always fixture it directly in some test application code, that perhaps uses some #define's and #includes the module code.

The Keil debugger can transition into/out of code for which you don't have source. You can output data via USART/DCC/SWV

It works! I built my module as a separate project, and converted with fromelf the output elf file to a C array. In the main app I wrote a 'loader' which copies this array to the destination. Then I set a function pointer to the DCD'd address in the module, and run the function. A test routine worked perfectly ;]
Thanks very much, Westonsupermare Pier.

To share the knowledge with others, I post the codes here.
Module's asm.s file:

RAMLOC  EQU 0x2001E000

                PRESERVE8
                THUMB

                IMPORT exec
                AREA FIRSTDCD,DATA,READONLY
                DCD RAMLOC ; help to verify the expected load address
                DCD exec ; the real function pointer
                END

C source file:

void exec(void *indata,void *outdata)
{
//do some
}

scatter file:

LR_IRAM1 0x2001E000 0x00002000  {

  ER_IROM1 0x2001E000 {
   asm.o (FIRSTDCD, +First)
   .ANY (+RO)
  }
  RW_IRAM1 +0  {  ; RW data
   .ANY (+RW +ZI)
  }
}

What we get in the binaries after building the module:

u8 destination[]=
{ 0x00,0xE0,0x01,0x20, //expected load address
0x09,0xE0,0x01,0x20, //the actual pointer to exec (this address will vary)
0x2D,0xE9,0xF0,0x41,... //that's the rest of the code
}

In the main app, after copying the data to destination, just set a function pointer to the second u32:

typedef void (*execfunc_t)(void*,void*);
execfunc_t execfunc=(execfunc_t)((u32*)destination[1]);

and execute:

u32 idata[2],odata[2];
execfunc(idata,odata);

And that's it ;)

But I have one more question, about PIC - how can I force the compiler to prepend the machine code with an address offset of one (or more) selected functions in the PIC region, like in my non-PI code above?

Or should I just write and use an elf loader?

An ELF loader is probably overkill, the form generally output by the linker is a fixed address form, the object version generated by the compiler is a bit too involved. The latter you're basically writing a linker rather than a loader, and the former you might as well just dump hex or binary. If you're committed to a fixed address, then binary would be the way to go, with some vector table or index of functions at the front of the applet.

I've built ELF linkers/loaders, I'd probably tend to a simpler format that addressed the import/export requirements of the modules, and any relocations required for a flexible load address. I'd do the translation on a PC as a post link step, or directly with the object(s)

For an offset something like this perhaps?

basis           DCD RAMLOC ; help to verify the expected load address
                DCD exec - basis; the real function pointer offset

Placing my module at a fixed address works for me now, but in the future reserving large spaces of RAM at fixed addresses can be annoying...

[...]I'd probably tend to a simpler format that addressed the import/export requirements of the modules, and any relocations required for a flexible load address. I'd do the translation on a PC as a post link step[...]

You're right. Having a binary executable with PI code, the only things I need to know are offsets to functions, beginning from zero base address (assume zero for simplicity). In my application, these functions don't use any global RW or ZI, so offsets only are good enough.

The question is, is it possible to embed these offsets in an array placed at a fixed offset (zero would be nice) in a binary output file, thus avoiding post link steps, using the compiler and/or linker only?
Like this:

u32 func_ptr_array_size; // <- at offset 0
u32 func_offsets[2]; //assume size==2
u8 code[];

I tried to achieve this with static initialization of an array of function pointers, and placing this array in a dedicated section, defined in the scatter file. But this won't link...

Observe how the assembler, linker, and scatter file work together on Cortex-M3/4 parts to place a vector table at the front of an image, and adapt to your needs. The new vector table for your applet format could include signatures, length, and a list of entry points, etc.

As I wrote earlier, all things work fine if position independency is not used. Marking the load region as PI and compiling the .c and .s files with --ropi causes link failure, because of the DCD in the .s file

                PRESERVE8
                THUMB

                AREA FIRSTDCD,DATA,READONLY
                DCD exec_vector ; here is the problem

                AREA |.text|,CODE,READONLY

exec_vector PROC ; dummy test function
                EXPORT exec_vector [WEAK]
                add r0,r0,r0
                bx lr
                ENDP

                END

The linker sais "asm.o FIRSTDCD in PI region 'ER_IRAM1' cannot have address type relocation to exec_vector in PI region 'ER_IRAM1' "...
This DCD gives me the address of the access function, and without that address, all this stuff is pointless ;( I would like an offset here instead the absolute address...
A classic startup file does not compile as position independent, too. Is there a obvious solution that I don't get, or is it more complicated?