Help Importing Existing IAR Project to SES / GCC

Question

Hi, 
 I am attempting to import an existing IAR project to SES / GCC and am having some trouble. I recently joined the project team and we are making an effort to switch from the paid IAR license that our contracting firmware group has used to a free IDE/toolchain in order to take over development. 
 It began as a ble_app_hrs example and dfu secure_bootloader example was later incorporated, but it has come a long way. 
 I am not yet familiar with IAR so I am having some trouble translating the IAR .icf linker files, macros, and preprocessor definitions to work with the Segger internal GCC toolchain. I have been looking for any guides or assistance that I can find, but there doesn't seem to be much on the subject. 
 I followed the Segger guide for porting projects from IAR ( link ) but it is not specific to Nordic or comprehensive, and I have had difficulty at the troubleshooting memory linker script section. I also referenced the Nordic guide for Importing from Keil but it seems a bit out of date. After creating a flash_placement.xml file based off the original SES examples' flash_placement.xml files, and then changing the FLASH and RAM section placement macros and Heap/Stack size in runtime memory area settings I am still unable to compile and am seeing the following errors: 
 
 Building ‘neop_hat_main_s132_with_dfu_pca10040’ from solution ‘project’ in configuration ‘nrf52832_xxaa_s132 Internal’ ... Output/nrf52832_xxaa_s132 Internal/Exe/neop_hat_main_s132_with_dfu_pca10040.elf does not exist. Generating linker script ‘neop_hat_main_s132_with_dfu_pca10040.ld’ Linking neop_hat_main_s132_with_dfu_pca10040.elf Output/nrf52832_xxaa_s132 Internal/Exe/neop_hat_main_s132_with_dfu_pca10040.elf section `.init' will not fit in region `UNPLACED_SECTIONS' region `UNPLACED_SECTIONS' overflowed by 16688 bytes cannot find entry symbol reset_handler; not setting start address Output/neop_hat_main_s132_with_dfu_pca10040 nrf52832_xxaa_s132 Internal/Obj/ses_startup_nrf52.o: in function `_vectors': (.vectors+0x0): undefined reference to `__stack_end__' (.vectors+0x4): undefined reference to `Reset_Handler' Output/neop_hat_main_s132_with_dfu_pca10040 nrf52832_xxaa_s132 Internal/Obj/nrf_sdh.o:(.rodata.sdh_stack_observers+0x0): undefined reference to `__start_sdh_stack_observers' Output/neop_hat_main_s132_with_dfu_pca10040 nrf52832_xxaa_s132 Internal/Obj/nrf_sdh.o:(.rodata.sdh_stack_observers+0x4): undefined reference to `__stop_sdh_stack_observers' Post-build command \GIT\Neopenda\Firmware
eop_hat_main\pca10040\s132_with_dfu\iar>echo Creating folder for DFU packages if not exist... 1>.\..\..\..	ools\"\postBuildLog.txt \GIT\Neopenda\Firmware
eop_hat_main\pca10040\s132_with_dfu\iar>if not exist ".\..\..\..	ools\"\DFU_Packages" mkdir .\..\..\..	ools\"\DFU_Packages Build failed

So my questions are: 
 
 Is there anything obvious I am doing wrong based on error output? 
 Which startup files should I be including? I added thumb_crt0.s as the Keil importing guide instructed - is this correct? Should I also add ses_startup_nrf_common.s (it is in the ble_app_hrs example but causes more errors when I include it). Anything else? 
 Is there any more comprehensive guide or any other useful information available on converting the IAR linker scripts correctly to corresponding GCC linker scripts and allocating memory correctly in the flash_placement.xml format? 
 Am I going about this the right way or is there anything else I should be considering or referencing at this point in order to successfully migrate the project?

I am aware that importing existing IAR projects can be challenging. If there is anything else that can help us do so I would like to pursue it. If however, the recommendation is that this is a mess and to stay with IAR at all costs we would consider that as well. 
 
 Thanks!

hmolesworth · Accepted Answer

A tedious process indeed, we have done a similar exercise. The best guide we found was comparing a standard project (uart or hrs or similar) between IAR and SES; there are only two files needed for this, IAR .icf and .ewp and SES .emProject and .xml which I'm sure you already know. Contrasting those diffs with the same diffs between the specific project files gives the best guide to what is missing. Here are the IAR and SES linker control files from a working project which has been converted from IAR to SES: /*###ICF### Section handled by ICF editor, don't touch! ****/ /*-Editor annotation file-*/ /* IcfEditorFile="$TOOLKIT_DIR$\config\ide\IcfEditor\cortex_v1_0.xml" */ /*-Specials-*/ define symbol __ICFEDIT_intvec_start__ = 0x26000; /*-Memory Regions-*/ define symbol __ICFEDIT_region_ROM_start__ = 0x26000; define symbol __ICFEDIT_region_ROM_end__ = 0x7ffff; define symbol __ICFEDIT_region_RAM_start__ = 0x20002a98; define symbol __ICFEDIT_region_RAM_end__ = 0x2000ffff; export symbol __ICFEDIT_region_RAM_start__; export symbol __ICFEDIT_region_RAM_end__; /*-Sizes-*/ define symbol __ICFEDIT_size_cstack__ = 8192; define symbol __ICFEDIT_size_heap__ = 8192; /**** End of ICF editor section. ###ICF###*/ define memory mem with size = 4G; define region ROM_region = mem:[from __ICFEDIT_region_ROM_start__ to __ICFEDIT_region_ROM_end__]; define region RAM_region = mem:[from __ICFEDIT_region_RAM_start__ to __ICFEDIT_region_RAM_end__]; define block CSTACK with alignment = 8, size = __ICFEDIT_size_cstack__ { }; define block HEAP with alignment = 8, size = __ICFEDIT_size_heap__ { }; define block RO_END with alignment = 8, size = 0 { }; initialize by copy { readwrite }; do not initialize { section .noinit }; keep { section .intvec }; place at address mem:__ICFEDIT_intvec_start__ { readonly section .intvec }; place in ROM_region { readonly, block RO_END }; place in RAM_region { readwrite, block CSTACK, block HEAP }; .. and SES .xml linker file: Then the converted project file for SES for this project, with some of the target sources removed which would need to be replaced by the specific project sources (if any): Compare there SES files with the files generated from your project to get a good guide on what is missing. This SES project uses the internal GCC tool chain, not the external IAR tool chain. Using the external IAR tool chain is also an option when importing the project to SES, but that just further complicates the process. The IAR above is v8.32 if I recall.

Help Importing Existing IAR Project to SES / GCC

Top Replies