Specify RAM regions in the linker script

[raffin]

Dear Support,

i wold like to distinguish in the linker script, the DCTRAM from the other RAM in order to explicitly allocate some buffer, in my code, in the DCTRAM.

So i changed the STM32F765VGTx_FLASH.ld from this (original version form CubeMX):

/* Entry Point */
ENTRY(Reset_Handler)
 
/* Highest address of the user mode stack */
_estack = 0x20080000;    /* end of RAM */
/* Generate a link error if heap and stack don't fit into RAM */
_Min_Heap_Size = 0xA000;      /*0x3800; orig 0x200, provato 0x800 OK required amount of heap  */
_Min_Stack_Size = 0x4000; /*  0x800 orig 0x400 provato 0x800 OK required amount of stack */
 
 
/* Specify the memory areas */
MEMORY
{
RAM (xrw)      : ORIGIN = 0x20000000, LENGTH = 512K
FLASH (rx)      : ORIGIN = 0x8040000, LENGTH = 768K     /*896K*/
}
 
/* Define output sections */
SECTIONS
{
  /* The startup code goes first into FLASH */
  .isr_vector :
  {
    . = ALIGN(4);
    KEEP(*(.isr_vector)) /* Startup code */
    . = ALIGN(4);
  } >FLASH
 
  /* The program code and other data goes into FLASH */
  .text :
  {
    . = ALIGN(4);
    *(.text)           /* .text sections (code) */
    *(.text*)          /* .text* sections (code) */
    *(.glue_7)         /* glue arm to thumb code */
    *(.glue_7t)        /* glue thumb to arm code */
    *(.eh_frame)
 
    KEEP (*(.init))
    KEEP (*(.fini))
 
    . = ALIGN(4);
    _etext = .;        /* define a global symbols at end of code */
  } >FLASH
 
  /* Constant data goes into FLASH */
  .rodata :
  {
    . = ALIGN(4);
    *(.rodata)         /* .rodata sections (constants, strings, etc.) */
    *(.rodata*)        /* .rodata* sections (constants, strings, etc.) */
    . = ALIGN(4);
  } >FLASH
 
  .ARM.extab   : { *(.ARM.extab* .gnu.linkonce.armextab.*) } >FLASH
  .ARM : {
    __exidx_start = .;
    *(.ARM.exidx*)
    __exidx_end = .;
  } >FLASH
 
  .preinit_array     :
  {
    PROVIDE_HIDDEN (__preinit_array_start = .);
    KEEP (*(.preinit_array*))
    PROVIDE_HIDDEN (__preinit_array_end = .);
  } >FLASH
  .init_array :
  {
    PROVIDE_HIDDEN (__init_array_start = .);
    KEEP (*(SORT(.init_array.*)))
    KEEP (*(.init_array*))
    PROVIDE_HIDDEN (__init_array_end = .);
  } >FLASH
  .fini_array :
  {
    PROVIDE_HIDDEN (__fini_array_start = .);
    KEEP (*(SORT(.fini_array.*)))
    KEEP (*(.fini_array*))
    PROVIDE_HIDDEN (__fini_array_end = .);
  } >FLASH
 
  /* used by the startup to initialize data */
  _sidata = LOADADDR(.data);
 
  /* Initialized data sections goes into RAM, load LMA copy after code */
  .data : 
  {
    . = ALIGN(4);
    _sdata = .;        /* create a global symbol at data start */
    *(.data)           /* .data sections */
    *(.data*)          /* .data* sections */
 
    . = ALIGN(4);
    _edata = .;        /* define a global symbol at data end */
  } >RAM AT> FLASH
 
  
  /* Uninitialized data section */
  . = ALIGN(4);
  .bss :
  {
    /* This is used by the startup in order to initialize the .bss secion */
    _sbss = .;         /* define a global symbol at bss start */
    __bss_start__ = _sbss;
    *(.bss)
    *(.bss*)
    *(COMMON)
 
    . = ALIGN(4);
    _ebss = .;         /* define a global symbol at bss end */
    __bss_end__ = _ebss;
  } >RAM
 
  /* User_heap_stack section, used to check that there is enough RAM left */
  ._user_heap_stack :
  {
    . = ALIGN(8);
    PROVIDE ( end = . );
    PROVIDE ( _end = . );
    . = . + _Min_Heap_Size;
    . = . + _Min_Stack_Size;
    . = ALIGN(8);
  } >RAM
 
  
 
  /* Remove information from the standard libraries */
  /DISCARD/ :
  {
    libc.a ( * )
    libm.a ( * )
    libgcc.a ( * )
  }
 
  .ARM.attributes 0 : { *(.ARM.attributes) }
}

to this:

/* Entry Point */
ENTRY(Reset_Handler)
 
/* Highest address of the user mode stack */
_estack = 0x20080000;    /* end of RAM */
/* Generate a link error if heap and stack don't fit into RAM */
_Min_Heap_Size = 0xA000;  
_Min_Stack_Size = 0x4000; 
 
 
/* Specify the memory areas */
MEMORY
{	
	DTCMRAM (xrw) : ORIGIN = 0x20000000, LENGTH = 128K 
	RAM (xrw) : ORIGIN = 0x20020000, LENGTH = 384K
	FLASH (rx)      : ORIGIN = 0x8040000, LENGTH = 768K     /*896K*/
}
 
/* Define output sections */
SECTIONS
{
  /* The startup code goes first into FLASH */
  .isr_vector :
  {
    . = ALIGN(4);
    KEEP(*(.isr_vector)) /* Startup code */
    . = ALIGN(4);
  } >FLASH
 
  /* The program code and other data goes into FLASH */
  .text :
  {
    . = ALIGN(4);
    *(.text)           /* .text sections (code) */
    *(.text*)          /* .text* sections (code) */
    *(.glue_7)         /* glue arm to thumb code */
    *(.glue_7t)        /* glue thumb to arm code */
    *(.eh_frame)
 
    KEEP (*(.init))
    KEEP (*(.fini))
 
    . = ALIGN(4);
    _etext = .;        /* define a global symbols at end of code */
  } >FLASH
 
  /* Constant data goes into FLASH */
  .rodata :
  {
    . = ALIGN(4);
    *(.rodata)         /* .rodata sections (constants, strings, etc.) */
    *(.rodata*)        /* .rodata* sections (constants, strings, etc.) */
    . = ALIGN(4);
  } >FLASH
 
  .ARM.extab   : { *(.ARM.extab* .gnu.linkonce.armextab.*) } >FLASH
  .ARM : {
    __exidx_start = .;
    *(.ARM.exidx*)
    __exidx_end = .;
  } >FLASH
 
  .preinit_array     :
  {
    PROVIDE_HIDDEN (__preinit_array_start = .);
    KEEP (*(.preinit_array*))
    PROVIDE_HIDDEN (__preinit_array_end = .);
  } >FLASH
  .init_array :
  {
    PROVIDE_HIDDEN (__init_array_start = .);
    KEEP (*(SORT(.init_array.*)))
    KEEP (*(.init_array*))
    PROVIDE_HIDDEN (__init_array_end = .);
  } >FLASH
  .fini_array :
  {
    PROVIDE_HIDDEN (__fini_array_start = .);
    KEEP (*(SORT(.fini_array.*)))
    KEEP (*(.fini_array*))
    PROVIDE_HIDDEN (__fini_array_end = .);
  } >FLASH
 
  /* used by the startup to initialize data */
  _sidata = LOADADDR(.data);
 
  /* Initialized data sections goes into RAM, load LMA copy after code */
  .data : 
  {
    . = ALIGN(4);
    _sdata = .;        /* create a global symbol at data start */
    *(.data)           /* .data sections */
    *(.data*)          /* .data* sections */
 
    . = ALIGN(4);
    _edata = .;        /* define a global symbol at data end */
  } >RAM AT> FLASH
 
  
  /* Uninitialized data section */
  . = ALIGN(4);
  .bss :
  {
    /* This is used by the startup in order to initialize the .bss secion */
    _sbss = .;         /* define a global symbol at bss start */
    __bss_start__ = _sbss;
    *(.bss)
    *(.bss*)
    *(COMMON)
 
    . = ALIGN(4);
    _ebss = .;         /* define a global symbol at bss end */
    __bss_end__ = _ebss;
  } >RAM
 
  /* User_heap_stack section, used to check that there is enough RAM left */
  ._user_heap_stack :
  {
    . = ALIGN(8);
    PROVIDE ( end = . );
    PROVIDE ( _end = . );
    . = . + _Min_Heap_Size;
    . = . + _Min_Stack_Size;
    . = ALIGN(8);
  } >RAM
  /*section */
  . = ALIGN(8);
  .ramfast :
  {
	_ramfast = .;         /* define a global symbol at ramfast start */
   	__ramfast_start__ = _ramfast;	
	*(.ramfast)
	*(.ramfast*)
	
	. = ALIGN(8);
	_ramfast = .;         /* define a global symbol at ramfast end */
    __ramfast_end__ = _ramfast;		
  } >DTCMRAM 
 
  
 
  /* Remove information from the standard libraries */
  /DISCARD/ :
  {
    libc.a ( * )
    libm.a ( * )
    libgcc.a ( * )
  }
 
  .ARM.attributes 0 : { *(.ARM.attributes) }
}

When I do this I loose the ethernet, LWIP seems not to work and at the moment I don't know why. All the other task in my code seems to be OK, the interrupts are working and looking at the .map file the all the buffers are well contained in their sections.

Also the .data section is correctly initialized at startup.

I can't figure out why the LWIP does not work.

[Tesla DeLorean]

Check which memory the ethernet expects to be using (bus matrix)

[raffin]

Thank you for your answer Tesla DeLorean,

as far as I am concerned the LwIP uses two large memory blocks: "memp_memory_PBUF_POOL_base" (21K) and "ram_heap" (9K) and other buffers (memp_memory_PBUF_base 3K and some other with lower size). These appear to be plainly allocated in the .bss section. In my first linker script the .bss is all0ocated in the DTCM section, in the second script the .bss is in the RAM with addresses higher than 0x20020000. However it is allocated inside the RAM space.

[raffin]

I generated a standard project for the Nucleo-F767ZI using CubeMX with LwIP and FreeRTOS.

With the standard output project everything is fine. I can ping my board with regularity.

Then changed the linker script to assign the bss section to the RAM above 0x20020000 (as in my first post).

With this change the ping is discontinuous, many packets are lost. I can't figure why LwIP suffer of this change.