[U-Boot-Users] Setting entry point in u-boot standalone apps

[David Hearn]

I have a U-boot standalone app which runs on the Gumstix boards.  It's based on the
/u-boot-1.2.0/examples/ folder.  The problem I have is that my entry 
function - lets call it app_entry() - isn't at the load address, it's 
somewhere in the middle.  I'm using the output from objdump -d <elf 
file> > <elf file>.dis to determine where in the address range the 
functions are located.

When I originally built the hello_world.c examples, the hello_world() 
function was located at the load address and everything worked fine.  I 
would do issue the following commands to run it:

loadb a0000000
<send the .bin file>
go a0000000

However I discovered that as I made changes to this file the 
hello_world() function was moved around within the address range (ie. it 
was no longer at the start of the range) - this was discovered when the 
app no longer worked.  After investigating I found that I needed to 
disassemble the file, locate where the entry function is now located, 
and do the following commands:

loadb a0000000
<send the .bin file>
go a0000948 (or whatever the address of my entry function was)

This then worked every time.

My problem is that I wish to avoid this as every time I change any of 
the functions located before my entry function, this address changes.  
It would be far nicer, and easier, to just have my entry function always 
located at the start of the range and I can then always execute my app by doing 'go a0000000' irrespective of any changes I make to the code..

I'm using a slightly modified version of the Makefile in the examples 
folder, the particular interesting part (I think) which I've not changed is:

$(ELF):
$(obj)%:    $(obj)%.o $(LIB)
        $(LD) -g $(EX_LDFLAGS) -Ttext $(LOAD_ADDR) \
            -o $@ -e $(notdir $(<:.o=)) $< $(LIB) \
            -L$(gcclibdir) -lgcc

The -e part should be specifying the entry point of the ELF file, 
however outputting the result of the $(notdir) part shows it's empty.  
When I've replaced it with just the entry function's name, it makes no 
difference either.

As I understand it (taken from: 
<http://sourceware.org/binutils/docs-2.17/ld/Entry-Point.html>):

"There are several ways to set the entry point. The linker will set the 
entry point by trying each of the following methods in order, and 
stopping when one of them succeeds:

    * the `-e' entry command-line option;
    * the |ENTRY(|symbol|)| command in a linker script;
    * the value of the symbol |start|, if defined;
    * the address of the first byte of the `.text' section, if present;
    * The address |0|."


Unfortunately, the examples don't use linker scripts, and I don't want 
to start messing with these as it interacts with u-boot to some extent 
(certainly built within u-boot's makefile), and it's all working as it 
is.  From what I understand though, the -e option should be sufficient.

Has anyone else experienced this problem, and can give any advice as to 
how to solve it?

Thanks

David