(mpfs-rpmsg-bm) Modified make flow using intermediate static library step produces incomplete elf files

[vishakh-mchp]

Introduction
A reference make flow for the mpfs-rpmsg-bm example is available on Github here.

The requirement is to modify this make flow to support the use of a static library (libpolarfire.a).
The goal is to split the make flow into two steps at the customer site:
STEP 1: Static parts of the project (related to vendor library) will be maintained and updated by a separate team.
STEP 2: Application development team will simply receive an updated static library from team in STEP 1 when the vendor library undergoes updates.

The modified make flow uses ar command.
Soft Console is not used – just the make flow with standard gcc commands.

Running original make flow
The original Github example will create Remote-Default and Master-Default version of elf files.

The remote version is created by default.
Type make in polarfire-soc-amp-examples/mpfs-rpmsg-bm folder:
$ make

For the master version, set the MASTER parameter:
$ make MASTER=MASTER

Results are stored here:
./Master-Default/mpfs-rpmsg-master.elf
./Remote-Default/mpfs-rpmsg-remote.elf

Running modified flow with static library
The modified make flow setup is described below and all files to reproduce it are uploaded here

STEP 1: Generate libpolarfire.a

Original Makefile in polarfire-soc-amp-examples/mpfs-rpmsg-bm is modified as below:

RISCV_TARGET / TARGET is defined in src/boards/icicle-kit-es/Makefile.

STEP 2: Compile the demo application using libpolarfire.a
Makefile is inside src/applications/app folder.
Result elf file is inside src/applications/app/release

Comparing the elf files
I used the readelf -a command to get this information and then grep for ‘FILE’.
Looks like the elf file generated using static library is smaller and missing reference to many C files.

Why is the elf file generated using the static library incomplete?

[sanjeevb-bansal]

Hi Vishakh,

This a generic issue of building and using an archive .a library file , It is not related to mpfs-rpmsg-bm.

Try using SoftConsole to include pre compiled archive (.a) file via UI. Good thing in eclipse based SoftConsole, you need not write your own Makefile's etc to use any pre-complied object code.

Hope this helps !!

Thanks
Sanjeev