Re: Issue with combining section alignment and target memory region in ld linker script

[Nick Clifton <nickc at redhat dot com>]

Hi Ronald,

> I've already tried the following alternative solutions:
> 1. changing ALIGN to BLOCK (causes the same errors)
> 2. .some_text : {
>      . = ALIGN(0x4000);
>      *a_first_object_file.o(.text)
>      *a_first_object_file.o(.text.*)
>      *a_second_object_file.o(.text)
>      *a_second_object_file.o(.text.*)
>    } > some_memory_region
>    This is a step in the right direction, because the first instruction in the some_text section will be
>    aligned as I want. However, from objdump output, I still see the section itself starting at a non-aligned
>    address.
> 3. insert an empty dummy section as such:
>    .dummy : {} > some_memory_region
>    right before the .some_text section (in the ld linker script), in hopes that I can define .some_text as
>    follows:
>    .some_text ALIGN(0x4000) : {
>      *a_first_object_file.o(.text)
>      *a_first_object_file.o(.text.*)
>      *a_second_object_file.o(.text)
>      *a_second_object_file.o(.text.*)
>    }
>    , without having to define a target memory region, in other words.
>    This doesn't work either, as the section is aligned but not in the desired target memory region.

Have you tried combining options 2 and 3 ?  Ie something like this:

  .dummy     : { . = ALIGN(0x4000); } > some_memory_region
  .some_text : { [....]             } > some_memory_region

So you put the alignment into the dummy section before .some_text, forcing
it to start on an aligned boundary.

Cheers
  Nick

PS. I have not actually tried this idea out, but I think it might work.
If it does not, then if you can give me a small test case (because I am
too lazy to write my own), I will fiddle around and see if I can come up
with something that works.