[fpc-devel] Capability CPUARM_HAS_BLX_LABEL with ARM instruction set

[Jonas Maebe]

Anthony Walter wrote:
> Because these devices have a fairly large amount of memory I have been
> using ARM instruction set (-CIARM option) to simplify the assembler code
> required for the low level interfaces, however early on I noticed that
> if I specify the options -CpARMV7A (or -CpARMV6) and –CIARM I end up
> with code that doesn’t work.
>
> I traced the problem to the use of BLX <Label> instructions which
> according to the ARM documentation seem to always causes an
> unconditional change to Thumb state. If I remove the
> CPUARM_HAS_BLX_LABEL capability and rebuild the compiler the code
> produced uses only BL <Label> and always works correctly. There seems to
> be no problem with BLX <Register> or BX <Register> instructions which
> use bit[0] of the register to determine the target state.

The compiler and assembler mark which code is ARM and which is Thumb. 
Normally, when the linker processes the object files, it will replace 
the blx instructions with bl if they go from ARM to ARM or from Thumb to 
Thumb. The reason that a compiler/assembler cannot do this, is that the 
target of a call may be in another object file and the 
compiler/assembler cannot know whether this object file has been 
compiled in ARM or Thumb mode.

Are you not processing the generated code with a linker at all?


Jonas