SPRAC71B February   2019  – October 2023

 

  1.   1
  2. 1 Introduction
    1. 1.1  ABIs for the C28x
    2. 1.2  Scope
    3. 1.3  ABI Variants
    4. 1.4  Toolchains and Interoperability
    5. 1.5  Libraries
    6. 1.6  Types of Object Files
    7. 1.7  Segments
    8. 1.8  C28x Architecture Overview
    9. 1.9  C28x Memory Models
    10. 1.10 Reference Documents
    11. 1.11 Code Fragment Notation
  3. 2 Data Representation
    1. 2.1 Basic Types
    2. 2.2 Data in Registers
    3. 2.3 Data in Memory
    4. 2.4 Pointer Types
    5. 2.5 Complex Types
    6. 2.6 Structures and Unions
    7. 2.7 Arrays
    8. 2.8 Bit Fields
      1. 2.8.1 Volatile Bit Fields
    9. 2.9 Enumeration Types
  4. 3 Calling Conventions
    1. 3.1 Call and Return
      1. 3.1.1 Call Instructions
        1. 3.1.1.1 Indirect Calls
        2. 3.1.1.2 Direct Calls
      2. 3.1.2 Return Instruction
      3. 3.1.3 Pipeline Conventions
      4. 3.1.4 Weak Functions
    2. 3.2 Register Conventions
      1. 3.2.1 Argument Registers
      2. 3.2.2 Callee-Saved Registers
    3. 3.3 Argument Passing
      1. 3.3.1 Passing 16-Bit Arguments
      2. 3.3.2 Passing Longer Arguments
      3. 3.3.3 C++ Argument Passing
      4. 3.3.4 Passing Structs and Unions
      5. 3.3.5 Stack Layout of Arguments Not Passed in Registers
      6. 3.3.6 Frame Pointer
    4. 3.4 Return Values
    5. 3.5 Structures and Unions Passed and Returned by Reference
    6. 3.6 Conventions for Compiler Helper Functions
    7. 3.7 Prolog and Epilog Helper Functions
    8. 3.8 Scratch Registers for Functions Already Seen
    9. 3.9 Interrupt Functions
  5. 4 Data Allocation and Addressing
    1. 4.1 Data Sections and Segments
    2. 4.2 Data Blocking
    3. 4.3 Addressing Modes
    4. 4.4 Allocation and Addressing of Static Data
      1. 4.4.1 Addressing Methods for Static Data
      2. 4.4.2 Placement Conventions for Static Data
        1. 4.4.2.1 Abstract Conventions for Addressing
      3. 4.4.3 Initialization of Static Data
    5. 4.5 Automatic Variables
    6. 4.6 Frame Layout
      1. 4.6.1 Stack Alignment
      2. 4.6.2 Register Save Order
    7. 4.7 Heap-Allocated Objects
  6. 5 Code Allocation and Addressing
    1. 5.1 Computing the Address of a Code Label
    2. 5.2 Calls
      1. 5.2.1 Direct Call
      2. 5.2.2 Far Call Trampoline
      3. 5.2.3 Indirect Calls
  7. 6 Helper Function API
    1. 6.1 Floating-Point Behavior
    2. 6.2 C Helper Function API
    3. 6.3 Floating-Point Helper Functions for C99
  8. 7 Standard C Library API
    1. 7.1  About Standard C Libraries
    2. 7.2  Reserved Symbols
    3. 7.3  <assert.h> Implementation
    4. 7.4  <complex.h> Implementation
    5. 7.5  <ctype.h> Implementation
    6. 7.6  <errno.h> Implementation
    7. 7.7  <float.h> Implementation
    8. 7.8  <inttypes.h> Implementation
    9. 7.9  <iso646.h> Implementation
    10. 7.10 <limits.h> Implementation
    11. 7.11 <locale.h> Implementation
    12. 7.12 <math.h> Implementation
    13. 7.13 <setjmp.h> Implementation
    14. 7.14 <signal.h> Implementation
    15. 7.15 <stdarg.h> Implementation
    16. 7.16 <stdbool.h> Implementation
    17. 7.17 <stddef.h> Implementation
    18. 7.18 <stdint.h> Implementation
    19. 7.19 <stdio.h> Implementation
    20. 7.20 <stdlib.h> Implementation
    21. 7.21 <string.h> Implementation
    22. 7.22 <tgmath.h> Implementation
    23. 7.23 <time.h> Implementation
    24. 7.24 <wchar.h> Implementation
    25. 7.25 <wctype.h> Implementation
  9. 8 C++ ABI
    1. 8.1  Limits (GC++ABI 1.2)
    2. 8.2  Export Template (GC++ABI 1.4.2)
    3. 8.3  Data Layout (GC++ABI Chapter 2)
    4. 8.4  Initialization Guard Variables (GC++ABI 2.8)
    5. 8.5  Constructor Return Value (GC++ABI 3.1.5)
    6. 8.6  One-Time Construction API (GC++ABI 3.3.2)
    7. 8.7  Controlling Object Construction Order (GC++ ABI 3.3.4)
    8. 8.8  Demangler API (GC++ABI 3.4)
    9. 8.9  Static Data (GC++ ABI 5.2.2)
    10. 8.10 Virtual Tables and the Key function (GC++ABI 5.2.3)
    11. 8.11 Unwind Table Location (GC++ABI 5.3)
  10. 9 Exception Handling
    1. 9.1  Overview
    2. 9.2  PREL31 Encoding
    3. 9.3  The Exception Index Table (EXIDX)
      1. 9.3.1 Pointer to Out-of-Line EXTAB Entry
      2. 9.3.2 EXIDX_CANTUNWIND
      3. 9.3.3 Inlined EXTAB Entry
    4. 9.4  The Exception Handling Instruction Table (EXTAB)
      1. 9.4.1 EXTAB Generic Model
      2. 9.4.2 EXTAB Compact Model
      3. 9.4.3 Personality Routines
    5. 9.5  Unwinding Instructions
      1. 9.5.1 Common Sequence
      2. 9.5.2 Byte-Encoded Unwinding Instructions
    6. 9.6  Descriptors
      1. 9.6.1 Encoding of Type Identifiers
      2. 9.6.2 Scope
      3. 9.6.3 Cleanup Descriptor
      4. 9.6.4 Catch Descriptor
      5. 9.6.5 Function Exception Specification (FESPEC) Descriptor
    7. 9.7  Special Sections
    8. 9.8  Interaction With Non-C++ Code
      1. 9.8.1 Automatic EXIDX Entry Generation
      2. 9.8.2 Hand-Coded Assembly Functions
    9. 9.9  Interaction With System Features
      1. 9.9.1 Shared Libraries
      2. 9.9.2 Overlays
      3. 9.9.3 Interrupts
    10. 9.10 Assembly Language Operators in the TI Toolchain
  11. 10DWARF
    1. 10.1 DWARF Register Names
    2. 10.2 Call Frame Information
    3. 10.3 Vendor Names
    4. 10.4 Vendor Extensions
  12. 11ELF Object Files (Processor Supplement)
    1. 11.1 Registered Vendor Names
    2. 11.2 ELF Header
    3. 11.3 Sections
      1. 11.3.1 Section Indexes
      2. 11.3.2 Section Types
      3. 11.3.3 Extended Section Header Attributes
      4. 11.3.4 Subsections
      5. 11.3.5 Special Sections
      6. 11.3.6 Section Alignment
    4. 11.4 Symbol Table
      1. 11.4.1 Symbol Types
      2. 11.4.2 Common Block Symbols
      3. 11.4.3 Symbol Names
      4. 11.4.4 Reserved Symbol Names
      5. 11.4.5 Mapping Symbols
    5. 11.5 Relocation
      1. 11.5.1 Relocation Types
        1. 11.5.1.1 Absolute Relocations
        2. 11.5.1.2 PC-Relative Relocations
        3. 11.5.1.3 Relocations in Data Sections
        4. 11.5.1.4 Relocations for C28x Instructions
        5. 11.5.1.5 Other Relocation Types
      2. 11.5.2 Relocation Operations
      3. 11.5.3 Relocation of Unresolved Weak References
  13. 12ELF Program Loading and Linking (Processor Supplement)
    1. 12.1 Program Header
      1. 12.1.1 Base Address
      2. 12.1.2 Segment Contents
      3. 12.1.3 Thread-Local Storage
    2. 12.2 Program Loading
  14. 13Build Attributes
    1. 13.1 About Build Attributes
    2. 13.2 C28x ABI Build Attribute Subsection
    3. 13.3 Build Attribute Tags
  15. 14Copy Tables and Variable Initialization
    1. 14.1 About Copy Tables
    2. 14.2 Copy Table Format
    3. 14.3 Compressed Data Formats
      1. 14.3.1 RLE
      2. 14.3.2 LZSS Format
    4. 14.4 Variable Initialization
  16. 15Revision History
    1.     188

12.2 Program Loading

There are many system-specific aspects of loading a program and starting its execution. This section describes in general terms aspects of the process that are common to most systems, with an emphasis on items that are specific to C28x.

These steps may be performed by a combination of an offline agent such as a host-based loader, run-time components of the target system such an operating system, or library components that are linked into the program itself such as self-boot code.

In general, loading a program consists of four series of actions: creating the process image, initializing the execution environment, executing the program, and performing termination actions.

Creating the process image involves copying the program and its subcomponents into memory and performing relocation if needed. These steps must necessarily be performed by some external agent such as a host-based loader or operating system.

Initializing the execution environment involves steps that must occur before the program starts running (i.e. before main is called). These steps can be performed either by an external agent or by the program itself. Likewise, termination actions occur when main returns (or calls exit), and can be performed either externally or by the program.

Table 12-1, Table 12-2 and Table 12-3 list the steps to create, initialize, and terminate a program. While the order of the steps is not absolute, there are dependencies that must be honored.

Table 12-1 Steps to Create a Process Image from an ELF Executable
Step
1. Determine the address for each loadable segment. In bare-metal or non-dynamic systems, this is usually the address in the p_vaddr field of the segment's program header. Other considerations are discussed in Section 12.1.
2. Initialize the memory system and allocate memory.
3. Copy the contents of each segment into memory. If a segment has unfilled space (that is, its file size is less than its memory size), initialize the unfilled space to 0.
. Marshall command line arguments and environment variables. This step is platform specific.
Table 12-2 Steps to Initialize the Execution Environment
Step
. Set SP. SP (R1) should be set to the value of the symbol _ _TI_STACK_END, properly aligned on an 8-byte boundary. 
. Initialize variables. For self-booting ROM-based systems, some mechanism is required to initialize RAM-based (read-write) variables with their initial values. The mechanism is toolchain and platform specific. One such mechanism, implemented in the TI tools, is described in Chapter 14.
. Perform initialization calls. Generally these are calls to constructors for global objects defined in the module. Pointers to initialization functions are stored in a table. he table is delimited by a pair of global symbols: _ _TI_INITARRAY_Base and _ _TI_INITARRAY_Limit.
. Branch to the entry point. The entry point is specified in the e_entry field of the ELF header. On systems with some underlying software fabric such an OS, the entry point is typically the main function. On bare-metal systems, most of the initialization steps listed in this table may be performed by the program itself, via library code that executes before main. In that case the ELF entry point is the address of that code. For example the TI tools provide an entry routine called _c_int00 that begins the sequence in Step 10 (set SP) once the process image is created.
Table 12-3 Termination Steps
Step
. Perform atexit calls. Functions registered by atexit are called, in reverse order of registration.