difference between .elf and .bin file to program STM32

cjaya.2 · ‎2024-08-27

Hi, what is the difference between .elf file and .bin file to program STM32. If I load up the .bin file and program STM32, will it contain all the necessary such as program data and flash data. Is there a application to program individually the .bin file separately apart from STM32CUBE IDE.

STTwo-32 · ‎2024-08-27

Hello @cjaya.2

BIN is a byte-by-byte binary image of what goes into the target memory
HEX is a text representation of the image; it has addresses and checksums - so it can be "sparse"
ELF is the full build output - it contains symbol information, debug information, etc, in addition to the code itself.

BIN and HEX are generated from the ELF.

More details available here.

If you are looking to program the .bin file on your MCU, you have to generate it using CubeIDE and programme it using CubeProgrammer.

Best Regards.

STTwo-32

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SofLit · ‎2024-08-27

Hello,

@cjaya.2 wrote:

If I load up the .bin file and program STM32, will it contain all the necessary such as program data and flash data.

It contains the program. Data such as letteral pool and const declared variables will be in the bin file.

Is there a application to program individually the .bin file separately apart from STM32CUBE IDE.

You can do it with STM32CubeProgrammer but you need to put the first address of the flash as .bin file does not contain the addresses like HEX file.

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cjaya.2 · ‎2024-08-27

Hi,

I found this application to program the .bin file. https://www.st.com/en/development-tools/stsw-link004.html.

Is this application ok?

SofLit · ‎2024-08-27

No this is an old and depricated tool called STLINK-Utility.

This is the link to STM32CubeProgrammer: https://www.st.com/en/development-tools/stm32cubeprog.html

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Tesla DeLorean · ‎2024-08-27

In the business we call the .ELF an "Object File"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_file

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Andrew Neil · ‎2024-08-28

@cjaya.2 wrote:
Hi, what is the difference between .elf file and .bin file to program STM32.

The others have explained the differences.

Note that this is entirely general - not specific to STM32.