Checksum/End Of Firmware/Arm Cortex/Linker

Hello,

I am looking for help regarding uVision IDE and Toolchain with regards to finding the end of firmware. The specific version of the tools are:

Toolchain: RealView MDK-ARM Version: 4.11
C Compiler: Armcc.Exe V4.0.0.728
Assembler: Armasm.Exe V4.0.0.728
Linker/Locator: ArmLink.Exe V4.0.0.728
Librarian: ArmAr.Exe V4.0.0.728
Hex Converter: FromElf.Exe V4.0.0.728
CPU DLL: SARMCM3.DLL V4.11
Dialog DLL: DARMSTM.DLL V1.46
Target DLL: BIN\UL2CM3.DLL V1.63
Dialog DLL: TARMSTM.DLL V1.43

CHIP: STMicroelectronics STM32F103ZE

I need to be able to know the address of the end of the firmware. There are two ways to do this with the linker. They are: (1) Use "--last=EndOfFirmware.o" in the linker command options or (2) Use the scatter file to add an entry with "+LAST". This is described here: www.keil.com/.../armlinkref_chdbjjfa.htm.

I started with the first method ("--last="), but right away I ran into a linker warning. The warning is shown below:

Build target 'MyProject'
linking...
.\OBJ\MyProject.axf: Warning: L6340W: options first and last are ignored for link type of scattered
Program Size: Code=190484 RO-data=12800 RW-data=3800 ZI-data=53944
.\OBJ\MyProject.axf: Finished: 0 information, 1 warning and 0 error messages.
FromELF: creating hex file...
".\OBJ\MyProject.axf" - 0 Error(s), 1 Warning(s).

This warning indicates that the EndOfFirmware.o is not linked at the end of the HEX file because when using a scatter file "--last" option is ignored. This makes perfect sense.

I proceeded to the second option which is the scatter file. I can see a file in my project named MyProject.sct. I have also edited this file by adding:

endoffirmware.o (+First)

to the scatter file. At this time I build (compile/link) and a new scatter file is created overwriting the one I modified.

It looks like the uVision IDE creates a new scatter file every time a build (compile/link) is performed.

How do I use the uVision IDE to give it addition data to place in the scatter file?

NOTE: EndOfFirmware.c has just one line of code that creates a constant value. The pointer to this value would give the address to end of firmware.

const int iEndOfProgramValue = 0xAABBCCDD;