VisualDSP++ 4.5 Loader and Utilities Manual - Analog Devices

Program Development Flow
the ELF standard, an industry-standard format for executable files. The
linker also produces map files and other embedded information
(DWARF-2) used by the debugger.
These executable files are not readable by the processor hardware directly.
They are neither supposed to be burned onto an EPROM or flash memory
device. Executable files are intended for VisualDSP++ debugging targets,
such as the simulator or emulator. Refer to the VisualDSP++ 4.5 Linker
and Utilities Manual and online Help for information about linking and
debugging.
Loading, Splitting, or Both
Upon completing the debug cycle, the processor hardware needs to run on
its own, without any debugging tools connected. After power-up, the
processor’s on-chip and off-chip memories need to be initialized. The process
of initializing memories is often referred to as booting. Therefore, the
linker output must be transformed to a format readable by the processor.
This process is handled by the loader and/or splitter utility. The
loader/splitter utility uses the debugged and tested executable files as well
as shared memory and overlay files as inputs to yield a processor-loadable
file.
VisualDSP++ 4.5 includes these loader and splitter utilities:
elfloader.exe (loader utility) for Blackfin, TigerSHARC, and
SHARC processors. The loader utility for Blackfin processors also
acts as a ROM splitter utility when evoked with the corresponding
switches.
elfspl21k.exe (ROM splitter utility) for TigerSHARC and
SHARC processors.
The loader/splitter output is either a boot-loadable or non-bootable file.
The output is meant to be loaded onto the target. There are several ways
to use the output:
1-8 VisualDSP++ 4.5 Loader and Utilities Manual