Examples of using placement algorithms for .ANY sections

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Arm^® Compiler Reference Guide

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C6.4.5 Examples of using placement algorithms for .ANY sections

These examples show the operation of the placement algorithms for RO-CODE sections in sections.o.

The input section properties and ordering are shown in the following table:

Table C6-1 Input section properties for placement of .ANY sections

Name	Size
`sec1`	`0x4`
`sec2`	`0x4`
`sec3`	`0x4`
`sec4`	`0x4`
`sec5`	`0x4`
`sec6`	`0x4`

The scatter file that the examples use is:

LR 0x100
{
  ER_1 0x100 0x10
  {
     .ANY
  }
  ER_2 0x200 0x10
  {
     .ANY
  }
}

Note:

These examples have --any_contingency disabled.

Example for first_fit, next_fit, and best_fit

This example shows the image memory map where several sections of equal size are assigned to two regions with one selector. The selectors are equally specific, equivalent to .ANY(+R0) and have no priority.

    Execution Region ER_1 (Base: 0x00000100, Size: 0x00000010, Max: 0x00000010, ABSOLUTE)

    Base Addr    Size         Type   Attr      Idx    E Section Name        Object

    0x00000100   0x00000004   Code   RO            1    sec1                sections.o
    0x00000104   0x00000004   Code   RO            2    sec2                sections.o
    0x00000108   0x00000004   Code   RO            3    sec3                sections.o
    0x0000010c   0x00000004   Code   RO            4    sec4                sections.o


    Execution Region ER_2 (Base: 0x00000200, Size: 0x00000008, Max: 0x00000010, ABSOLUTE)

    Base Addr    Size         Type   Attr      Idx    E Section Name        Object

    0x00000200   0x00000004   Code   RO            5    sec5                sections.o
    0x00000204   0x00000004   Code   RO            6    sec6                sections.o

In this example:

For first_fit, the linker first assigns all the sections it can to ER_1, then moves on to ER_2 because that is the next available region.
For next_fit, the linker does the same as first_fit. However, when ER_1 is full it is marked as FULL and is not considered again. In this example, ER_1 is full. ER_2 is then considered.
For best_fit, the linker assigns sec1 to ER_1. It then has two regions of equal priority and specificity, but ER_1 has less space remaining. Therefore, the linker assigns sec2 to ER_1, and continues assigning sections until ER_1 is full.

Example for worst_fit

This example shows the image memory map when using the worst_fit algorithm.

    Execution Region ER_1 (Base: 0x00000100, Size: 0x0000000c, Max: 0x00000010, ABSOLUTE)

    Base Addr    Size         Type   Attr      Idx    E Section Name        Object

    0x00000100   0x00000004   Code   RO            1    sec1                sections.o
    0x00000104   0x00000004   Code   RO            3    sec3                sections.o
    0x00000108   0x00000004   Code   RO            5    sec5                sections.o


    Execution Region ER_2 (Base: 0x00000200, Size: 0x0000000c, Max: 0x00000010, ABSOLUTE)

    Base Addr    Size         Type   Attr      Idx    E Section Name        Object

    0x00000200   0x00000004   Code   RO            2    sec2                sections.o
    0x00000204   0x00000004   Code   RO            4    sec4                sections.o
    0x00000208   0x00000004   Code   RO            6    sec6                sections.o

The linker first assigns sec1 to ER_1. It then has two equally specific and priority regions. It assigns sec2 to the one with the most free space, ER_2 in this example. The regions now have the same amount of space remaining, so the linker assigns sec3 to the first one that appears in the scatter file, that is ER_1.