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Memory use display in CCS

Dave Nadler
Intellectual 365 points


I'm trying out CCS  6.0.0.00190 with MSP430 GCC Tools 4.8.0.20140423,
and all the latest updates installed as of 11-July.

As any developer, I need to see current memory use by the project.
I'm expecting to see something like (image from Rowley Crossworks):

Even better would be a summary breakdown segregating RAM use (stack, heap, variables, free)
and flash (libraries, user code, user data).

Unfortunately, all I can find is this:

I click on "here" and nothing happens...

HELP!

Thanks in advance,
Best Regards, Dave

PS: Here's another example from Microchip MPLABX:

  • 0
    Guru 92251 points

    Dave Nadler said:
    I'm trying out CCS  6.0.0.00190 with MSP430 GCC Tools 4.8.0.20140423,
    and all the latest updates installed as of 11-July.

    The CCS Memory Allocation view appears to parse the output of the "XML link information file" which is generated by the linker of a TI compiler, as specified by --xml_link_info file option.

    With CCS 6 projects built using a TI compiler I found that the Memory Allocation view is populated.

    However, with CCS 6 projects built using a GCC compiler I saw the same problem as you, in that the Memory Allocation view didn't display the memory usage with a "The project must have its link-info file path set. Click here to initialize the link-info file path..." message. Clicking here didn't have any effect.

    Therefore, I think the CCS 6 Memory View isn't supported when a GCC compiler is used - although I can't find any statement to that effect in the CCS 6 help.

  • 0 in reply to Chester Gillon
    TI__Guru**** 471801 points

    Chester Gillon said:
    Therefore, I think the CCS 6 Memory View isn't supported when a GCC compiler is used - although I can't find any statement to that effect in the CCS 6 help.

    Chester is correct.

    I filed two reports for this regarding the Memory Usage view. Tracking IDs are:

    SDSCM00050555 - fix misleading message when non-TI compiler is used.

    SDSCM00050556 - support GCC compilers

    Thanks

    ki

  • 0 in reply to Ki
    Intellectual 365 points

    Thanks Ki. Are you saying that GCC is not really supported?
    I never received any reply to this inquiry; perhaps you can help?

    http://e2e.ti.com/support/microcontrollers/msp430/f/166/t/354694.aspx

  • 0 in reply to Dave Nadler
    TI__Guru**** 471801 points

    The GCC support I was referring to was specifically for the Memory Usage view.

    In regards to your other thread - I guess it doesn't surprise me the the GCC documentation is missing. But you're right, we should have it available from within CCS instead of just pointing people to a webpage. We will look into improving this. Thanks for the feedback.

    ki

  • 0 in reply to Ki
    Intellectual 365 points

    Neither the TI documentation within CCS nor the FAQ web page I referenced point at a web page.

    I have not located any pointer to MSP430 GCC documentation; please provide one if you have it.

    Are you going to create tickets for these issues?

    Should I give up on using this compiler before spending more time evaluating this?

    Thanks!
    Best Regards, Dave

  • 0 in reply to Dave Nadler
    TI__Guru**** 471801 points

    All I have is a link to the older documentation on sourceforge. I first need to talk to the folks involved with mspgcc and see what we actually have and once I have an idea of what the situation is and what the best way forward is, I will file some tickets and be sure to post the ticket numbers here for your reference.

    Thanks

    ki

  • 0
    Intellectual 900 points

    For what it's worth, I do the following to get some rough numbers regarding memory usage when using MSP430 GCC:

    1. Open up Project -> Properties -> CCS Build -> Tab: Steps
    2. Into "Post-build steps" I enter:
      "${CG_TOOL_ROOT}/bin/msp430-elf-size" --format=berkley "${BuildArtifactFileName}"
    3. Into the corresponding "Description" field I enter:
      Invoking: GNU Size Utility

    The output looks like the following:

       text	   data	    bss	    dec	    hex	filename
    226	      8	     10	    244	     f4	PROJECTNAME.out

    For an explanation of the output you might want to follow this link:
    https://mcuoneclipse.com/2013/04/14/text-data-and-bss-code-and-data-size-explained/