CCS/TMS320F28375D: TMS320F2837xD support the DWARF formats 2-4

Ahmed Tuna

Prodigy 115 points

Part Number: TMS320F28375D

Tool/software: Code Composer Studio

Hi TI Engineers,

I have a customer request which you can find the details below. Can you please provide an answer for the customer?

Thank you.

Customer's details;

"For our developments, we frequently use the DSPs of the C2000 series, currently the TMS320F2837xD and compile with the compiler TI v15.12.3.LTS. We would like to refer to the new compiler versions, e.g. v16.9.3.LTS. For the development, we use a self-made debugging tool, which relies on outfiles of type COFF, which finally expires with the newer compiler versions. Therefore, we want to rebuild our tool for the use with DWARF or build a parser from DWARF to COFF. The compiler supports DWARF 2 to 4. DWARF is constantly being developed, so it is foreseeable that a new version will be added every 2-5 years.
Now my question: are you planning to support the DWARF formats 2-4 in the future or will you follow the latest formats? We do not want to have to re-create our interface between outfile and tool every few years and therefore like to incorporate the development direction of TI in our planning."

Best regards,

over 7 years ago

0 George Mock over 7 years ago

TI__Guru**** 251090 points

I need to make a distinction between the terms object file format and debugging data format. I recommend you perform an internet search on both those terms.

Please understand that COFF is a object file format, and Dwarf is a debugging data format. I'll talk about both, but separately.

Dwarf first ... Dwarf 4 is available in the C28x compiler as of version 15.12.x.LTS. Generally speaking, Dwarf 3 is the default. But you can get Dwarf 4 by building with the option --symdebug:dwarf_version=4. Further details are in this article on Dwarf 4.

COFF format ... As of this writing COFF is the only object format available with the C28x compiler. But the roadmap calls for changing to ELF format. No schedule for this change is announced. But I expect it will happen within a year. This is a big change. COFF and ELF are very different. For more background on these formats, please see the article A Brief History of TI Object File Formats.

Thanks and regards,

-George

0 Lennart Wallis over 7 years ago in reply to George Mock

Prodigy 20 points

Hey George,

thank you for your quick response but i still have some questions:

- So with the upcoming versions of Coder Composer and the new compiler versions a change to ELF (for our own Software-Tool) is inevitable?

0 George Mock over 7 years ago in reply to Lennart Wallis

TI__Guru**** 251090 points

Yes. -George

0 Lennart Wallis over 7 years ago in reply to George Mock

Prodigy 20 points

Does TI provide a parser from ELF to COFF ?

If not, could you provide us Data/Dokuments which will be helpful in the making process ?

Best regards,

Fraunhofer ISE

0 George Mock over 7 years ago in reply to Lennart Wallis

TI__Guru**** 251090 points

Lennart Wallis said:
Does TI provide a parser from ELF to COFF ?

No. Though there is the object file display utility ofd2000. It is documented in the C28x assembly tools manual. It works the same whether the input file uses COFF or ELF.

Lennart Wallis said:
could you provide us Data/Dokuments which will be helpful in the making process ?

The specification for ELF is not maintained by TI.

Thanks and regards,

-George

Code Composer Studio™︎

Code Composer Studio forum

CCS/TMS320F28375D: TMS320F2837xD support the DWARF formats 2-4