a friendly hello to anyone interested in my question and setup
first i would like to explain the makefile setup, which works and 2nd i will go into the managed one and the linker errs i'm getting using the ble_uart example
also maybe this helps others with their nrf5x and eclipse setup issues
yes, there is segger embedded studio for linux, but i've been working with eclipse for the past 12 years on and off, so why to learn another ide and switch constantly between the 2 on multiple projects
i have to port a c++ proj from an nxp mcu to the nrf52832 to provide ble communication in a single mcu solution
setup : sdk14.2.0, eclipse oxygen, gnu-mcu-arm plugin and arm embedded toolchain
gnu-mcu-eclipse.github.io/.../
developer.arm.com/.../downloads
create an eclipse based makefile project :
have your folders struct (e.g. sdk) with all *.h, *.c, *.cpp files in place
new -> "makefile project with existing code"
browse to your makefile ... select the toolchain ... change the proj name if you don't like it, and this will generate the .project and .cproject files along with the .settings files
i personally like to keep the nordic sdk files and my project files separated and not nested within the sdk and made therefore small changes to the makefile to move main.c, sdk_config.h and the linker scripts into my own project portion. to provide accessibility within the workspace i create a regular separate eclipse project of the sdk within the same workspace ... file -> new -> project ...
i renamed main.c to Main.cpp since it will eventually hold my TCppMain class and the entry "main ()" function within the same file, but outside of this class
this setup requires to provide include file references in project -> properties -> c/c++ general -> paths and symbols -> includes (information taken from the makefile, include folders)
to keep the eclipse indexer happy i also had to add the -Dxxx symbols from the makefile into the same as above -> symbols
i would like to mention that i sorted the source-files and includes-folder portions in the makefile to get a better understanding of all the files in use (hopefully this was not a mistake)
i also stripped all files and folders not referenced by the used *.c files in the project from the makefile and the sdk as well ... now i have a lean sdk tailored for my individual proj setup ... if the proj grows i can always add them from the org untouched sdk (i use beyond compare 3 to do this comparing and merging)
i have to admit that this might not be the usual setup, "BUT IT WORKS"
quick launch and debug setup : click the arrow next to the bug icon -> debug configuration
double click "GDB SEGGER J-Link Debugging" will add a new launch configuration for the project for download and debug
duplicate this launch, rename it to softdevice-load or similar and change :
Main tab -> c/c++ application, edit field to select the Softdevice hex file
Startup tab -> Load symbols, deselect
now you have a launch for the softdevice only
so far so good ... the initial makefile setup works (haven't expanded beyond the example at this point
now the attempt to make use of what i have for the managed setup :
create a new c++ managed project within the same workspace and replace main.cpp with the above Main.cpp in the src folder ... replace the linker files with the one from above and remove the generated system startup folder and files
use the same lean sdk project setup from above
use the same includes and symbols definition lists from the makefile proj and enter them in project -> properties -> c/c++ build -> settings -> GNU ARM Cross Assembler, GNU ARM Cross Compiler and GNU ARM Cross C++ Compiler
issue a refresh followed by clean command
issuing a build command will compile all files with some warnings, but :
the linker throws the following errs
Invoking: GNU ARM Cross C++ Linker
arm-none-eabi-g++ -mcpu=cortex-m4 -mthumb -Og -fmessage-length=0 -fsigned-char -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -ffreestanding -fno-move-loop-invariants -Wall -Wextra -g3 -T ble_app_uart_gcc_nrf52.ld -nostartfiles -Xlinker --gc-sections -L"../ldscripts" -Wl,-Map,"nrfUartBle.map" --specs=nano.specs -o "nrfUartBle.elf" ./src/Main.o
/usr/eclipse-arm/gcc-arm-none-eabi-6-2017-q2-update/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/6.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/bin/ld: warning: cannot find entry symbol Reset_Handler; defaulting to 0000000000023000
./src/Main.o: In function `ble_evt_handler':
/home/code-arm/cortex_nrf52ble/nrfUartBle/Debug/../src/Main.cpp:336: undefined reference to `bsp_indication_set'
/home/code-arm/cortex_nrf52ble/nrfUartBle/Debug/../src/Main.cpp:337: undefined reference to `app_error_handler_bare'
/home/code-arm/cortex_nrf52ble/nrfUartBle/Debug/../src/Main.cpp:357: undefined reference to `app_error_handler_bare'
/home/code-arm/cortex_nrf52ble/nrfUartBle/Debug/../src/Main.cpp:364: undefined reference to `app_error_handler_bare'
makefile:57: recipe for target 'nrfUartBle.elf' failed
/home/code-arm/cortex_nrf52ble/nrfUartBle/Debug/../src/Main.cpp:374: undefined reference to `app_error_handler_bare'
/home/code-arm/cortex_nrf52ble/nrfUartBle/Debug/../src/Main.cpp:380: undefined reference to `app_error_handler_bare'
./src/Main.o:/home/code-arm/cortex_nrf52ble/nrfUartBle/Debug/../src/Main.cpp:387: more undefined references to `app_error_handler_bare' follow
./src/Main.o:(.sdh_ble_observers1+0x0): undefined reference to `ble_advertising_on_ble_evt'
./src/Main.o:(.sdh_ble_observers1+0x8): undefined reference to `nrf_ble_gatt_on_ble_evt'
./src/Main.o:(.sdh_ble_observers2+0x0): undefined reference to `ble_nus_on_ble_evt'
./src/Main.o:(.sdh_soc_observers1+0x0): undefined reference to `ble_advertising_on_sys_evt'
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [nrfUartBle.elf] Error 1
11:14:37 Build Finished (took 2s.124ms)
those are the symbols in used
BOARD_PCA10040
CONFIG_GPIO_AS_PINRESET
FLOAT_ABI_HARD
NRF52
NRF52832_XXAA
NRF52_PAN_74
S132
SOFTDEVICE_PRESENT
SWI_DISABLE0
NRF_SD_BLE_API_VERSION=5
NRF_LOG_DEFAULT_LEVEL=0
NRF_LOG_ENABLED=0
at this point i'm not too concerned about the warning: cannot find entry symbol Reset_Handler ... will fix it later
the question now would be ... how comes that the managed project throws those linker errs by having the same sdk setup and includes and symbols used as in the makefile setup
i was also wondering if the project path length would be an issue in linux (the linker snippets above do not reflect the whole path)
maybe my story helps some other eclipse user with his initial startup attempts
many thanks to the ones able to explain what's wrong with the linker errs
i'm enclosing my examples for information