ARM Compiler toolchain Using the Linker - ARM Information Center

BPABI and SysV shared libraries and executables
10.1 About the Base Platform Application Binary Interface (BPABI)
10.1.1 See also
Many embedded systems use an operating system to manage the resources on a device. In many
cases this is a large, single executable with a Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) that tightly
integrates with the applications. Other more complex Operating Systems (OS) are referred to as
a platform OS, for example, ARM Linux. These have the ability to load applications and shared
libraries on demand.
To run an application or use a shared library on a platform OS, you must conform to the
Application Binary Interface (ABI) for the platform and also the ABI for the ARM architecture.
This can involve substantial changes to the linker output, for example, a custom file format. To
support such a wide variety of platforms, the ABI for the ARM architecture provides the Base
Platform Application Binary Interface (BPABI).
The BPABI provides a base standard from which a platform ABI can be derived. The linker
produces a BPABI conforming ELF image or shared library. A platform specific tool called a
post-linker translates this ELF output file into a platform-specific file format. Post linker tools
are provided by the platform OS vendor. The following figure shows the BPABI tool flow.
Tool: compiler linker postlinker
Format:
.c .o
.axf
bin/exe
Language ABI BPABI
Concepts
• Platforms supported by the BPABI on page 10-4
• Concepts common to all BPABI models on page 10-5.
Figure 10-1 BPABI tool flow
Other information
• Base Platform ABI for the ARM Architecture,
http://infocenter.arm.com/help/topic/com.arm.doc.ihi0037-/index.html.
Platform
binary
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