convert object file to hex?

Nevil Chapada, I am talking about complicate structure of characteristics, containing numerous floating point numbers and integers. May be there is some other easy way to generate this structure of floating points intermix with integers into the correct binaries.

I am talking about complicate structure of characteristics, containing numerous floating point numbers and integers.

Can't see anything unusual about that. I've just written simple C programs or scripts to do such things and handed it to production. I don't want (and they wouldn't want) a development environment on their PCs.

"This somehow way can be intake the csv record, and in my example, generate the c file, shell out to call the compiler/linker/fromelf to get the hex and then page flash to the target."

But why, why, why involving a C compiler to compile and convert and mish and mash around the data?

You talk about "complicated structures", but haven't given a single indication that you really have anything complicated to handle.

I would not involve a compiler run once/line to convert the individual lines of a CSV file into multiple HEX files for loading. I would write one source code that would read the CSV file and directly produce the HEX output. And I would consider integrating that program directly with the factory downloader code to do the full factory programming as a single step - merge one bootloader binary + one application binary + one configuration binary formed from the CSV input data.

You don't write one calculator software to solve fact(15) and another to solve fact(27). You write a single software that takes the numeric value as input. It is only when doing something requiring extreme processing power, that you might consider doing an "on-the-fly" compilation of a configuration script into machine instructions - so for example some graphics applications might build on-the-fly a sequence of processor instructions based on input parameters, just to be able to cut the runtime speed of doing some very heavy noice processing of many thousands of frames of a movie.

In this case, you have locked down on a bad route and want to continue on that path even as the water gets deeper and deeper and fouler and fouler. Your compiler should produce one (1) version of the program per feature set - not per delivered unit. Anything that can be parametrized should be handled by configuration and not by custom source code lines. No other part of the distribution chain should require the use of any compiler.

you are right, compiler is very clever on this, and I am aware of this.
You think so, but you're not. The compiler can be even cleverer than you're aware of at this point.
So the compiler cannot do the clever thing that you mentioned, and is forced to address the corresponding location for the data.
That method is not reliably sufficient to force the compiler's hand in that way.

Let me repeat: even though the compiler might seem capable of doing this for you, it's still the wrong tool for the job. There are two industry standard method of doing this:

1) Let production equipment actually do what you said you wanted to do: patch the hex file. Programming tools for factory floor use support that out of the box, and they're way better at it than any compiler+linker can hope to be. Setting aside all other things, they're cheaper.

2) Instead of locking yourself into the idea of changing the program image, have the device write calibration data into non-volatile memory as part of the production process, but after you've flashed the program. Instead you put those data into data flash, or a separate EEPROM, which is written during production.

Just because you currently hold those data in "compplicated data structures" doesn't mean that that's a good idea, much less a necessary property of the design.

Hans-Bernhard Broeker

I do not 100% aware of all the clever bits of the compiler, but regarding the question in concern about addressing the constant record via the absolute address pointer should be able to address the issue that you brought up earlier on. (In fact, the constant record does not even exist in the project build hex file).

Hans-Bernhard Broeker, Per Westermark:

I agreed that my way may not be the correct and efficient way, and surely there are production equipment solution to address this. I would appreciate if anyone can point me to those kinds of information that I can look into.

To convert the constant structure through csv record file into patch binary can also be done using script or creating proprietary executable to do the job. It is because the compiler comes in handy (the free mdk-lite can do the job), not to mention about changing the definition of the structure as revision evolved.

(In fact, the constant record does not even exist in the project build hex file).

Which makes any use of that data undefined behaviour. That gives compilers leeway to do whatever they want with the entire program from that point on.

I hope you did remember to make sure the memory area you keep those data in is actually forbidden for use by the compiler of the main code.

(the free mdk-lite can do the job)

Can: possibly. Is allowed to for that purpose: quite certainly no. You'll want to re-read your license about that a bit more closely.

Hans-Bernhard Broeker, you are right about the constant area.

I have set the target IROM limited to 0xF000 (from 0x800000 to 0x800F000), so that the compiler and linker will not use the area from 0x800F000 onwards.