CODEWITHSUNDEEP
clinkeriardead-code
Dmitry Grigoryev
Dmitry Grigoryev

Reputation: 3203

How to force IAR linker to keep unused functions?

I'm testing a C software written for Renesas RL78 microcontroller. The software is still in development, so there are functions which are implemented but not yet called. As a result, such functions are eliminated by the linker, which outputs the following entries in the listing:

CODE
  Segment part 42. NOT NEEDED.
       LOCAL                   ADDRESS         
       =====                   =======         
       function_name

My goal is to perform unit tests of these functions on the target system, so I need the code to be present in the output ELF file. How can I tell the linker to keep the unused functions? I already tried to set optimization level to None, and set module type to both Program or Library. I have also defined a single code segment called CODE. All these actions had no desired effect on the linker output.

I can't modify the source code (technically, I can modify all I want, but I can't commit anything), so calling all the functions I need from main() is not an option.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 3005

Answers (1)

Dmitry Grigoryev
Dmitry Grigoryev

Reputation: 3203

I have found the relevant tech note which suggests the following:

  • IAR XLINK Linker -g option
  • IAR ILINK Linker --keep option
  • use the REQUIRE keyword in assembler
  • use the __root extension keyword

Since I use xlink, I tried out the first option and it worked. Here's the option quick reference:

-gsymbol1[,symbol2,symbol3,…] Requires global entries

Here's how the option is set in the IDE: enter image description here

And since M.M asked how do I unit test functions which are not called by the rest of the code, here's a screenshot of my debugger. Basically, it stopped the target once the main loop was reached, created an artificial stack frame for a function and called it. enter image description here

Upvotes: 3

Related Questions