Compiler/F28M35H52C: Overlapping sections in ELF

Beat Arnet

Part Number: F28M35H52C

Tool/software: TI C/C++ Compiler

I noticed that ELF binary files generated by TI's ARM linker (15.12.3.LTS) have overlapping sections.

According to my understanding this violates the ELF standard which states that "Sections in a file may not overlap. No byte in a file resides in more than one section."

Below is an example. Notice how the ".debug_info" section extends over both ".bss" and ".data".

Is this a bug or intentional/desired behavior?

Thanks,
Beat

over 7 years ago

0 Archaeologist over 7 years ago

TI__Guru* 84225 points

The .debug sections are not mapped to target memory; they are meta-data (in this case debugging information). The non-overlapping restriction does not apply to meta-data.

0 Beat Arnet over 7 years ago in reply to Archaeologist

Intellectual 850 points

Thank you for your response. Does the overlap serve a purpose?

0 Archaeologist over 7 years ago in reply to Beat Arnet

TI__Guru* 84225 points

In this case, no. The debug sections do not really occupy any target memory, so they certainly can't overlap in target memory. For such sections, the "address" field in the ELF file is meaningless, and it is set to zero by convention.

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Compiler/F28M35H52C: Overlapping sections in ELF