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CodeSourcery Lite vs Full?

Daniel70334
Expert 1745 points

Hi,

At my company, we have several DM814x and DM816x projects.  The EZSDK for these projects use CodeSourcery 2009q1-203, so it's a rather antiquated toolchain.

There's a rumor circulating at work that the "full" version of CodeSourcery has better NEON and VFP support than the Lite version.  Can anyone at TI confirm or deny this?

Thanks,

Dan  -

  • 0
    Intellectual 505 points

    I'm not a Ti employee, but I know that Code Sourcery Lite does not support "mfloat-abi=hard" compiler option. Thus, yes.

    BTW, did you ask Mentor Graphics's representatives for details?

  • 0 in reply to Konstantin
    Expert 1745 points

    Yes, googling around, I see people saying the same, that Lite does not support the hard fp option.

    Also, I found this entry on the FAQ at Mentor Graphics' webiste:

        https://sourcery.mentor.com/sgpp/lite/arm/portal/kbentry36

    So, at the very least, it seems like this idea may not be just FUD.

  • 0 in reply to Daniel70334
    Guru 10685 points

    No, Code Sourcery Lite does not come with hardfp compatible libc. It can compile hardfp binaries but not if they use libc.

    If you want hardfp/neon your best bet is to use Crosstools to generate your own toolchain. It's not that hard to do though you may have to refine the settings a bit to get it working correctly. Don't forget to disassemble your compiled binaries to verify that they are using neon/vfp op codes.

  • 0 in reply to _Ralph_
    Expert 1745 points

    Thanks Ralph,

    Though, I'm wondering if there is more advantage to the Full CodeSourcery than just hardfp support.  For example, that FAQ says:

    Question

    Why doesn't Sourcery CodeBench Lite Edition contain libraries for big-endian GNU/Linux? Or for systems with VFP or NEON?

    Answer

    The contents of Sourcery CodeBench Lite Edition are agreed by ARM, Ltd. and CodeSourcery.

    Sourcery CodeBench Lite Edition can be used to build applications the use VFP and/or NEON instructions. While the Lite-edition libraries have not been optimized for VFP/NEON, the application itself can be optimized for these architecture variants and linked with the Lite run-time libraries, provided the Application Binary Interface (ABI) used by the application is compatible with the ABI of the Lite run-time libraries. The linker will refuse to link incompatible objects. Using a run-time optimized specifically for VFP/NEON only offers a performance advantage for applications that make heavy use of mathematical functions, such as cos.

    Sourcery CodeBench Professional and Standard Editions provide add-on run-time libraries optimized for VFP and NEON, as well as libraries for big-endian systems.

    (With highlight added by myself.) This highlighted areas make me wonder if there's more benefit that just the extra hard fp support ...

    Dan -