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author | Michael Brown <mcb30@etherboot.org> | 2005-05-20 13:35:39 +0000 |
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committer | Michael Brown <mcb30@etherboot.org> | 2005-05-20 13:35:39 +0000 |
commit | 93bb763ade8429f0c2517b1c45380f39dc0ef008 (patch) | |
tree | 90e5c538ef905675db4adf3dd48eda164e0e8d2c /src/doc | |
parent | a177c012c19bfd5a7fdb1b99fa360cefd8fb3005 (diff) | |
download | ipxe-93bb763ade8429f0c2517b1c45380f39dc0ef008.zip ipxe-93bb763ade8429f0c2517b1c45380f39dc0ef008.tar.gz ipxe-93bb763ade8429f0c2517b1c45380f39dc0ef008.tar.bz2 |
Documented the link stages
Diffstat (limited to 'src/doc')
-rw-r--r-- | src/doc/build_sys.dox | 233 |
1 files changed, 226 insertions, 7 deletions
diff --git a/src/doc/build_sys.dox b/src/doc/build_sys.dox index e265b29..9466f66 100644 --- a/src/doc/build_sys.dox +++ b/src/doc/build_sys.dox @@ -2,11 +2,11 @@ @section overview Overview -Building an Etherboot image consists of two stages: +Building an Etherboot image consists of three stages: -# @ref compilation : Compiling all the source files into object files - - -# @ref linking : Building a particular image from select object files + -# @ref linking : Linking a particular image from selected object files + -# @ref finalisation : Producing the final output binary Though this is a remarkably complex process, it is important to note that it all happens automatically. Whatever state your build tree is @@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ built from the current sources. @section compilation Compilation -@subsection comp_general Overview +@subsection comp_overview Overview Each source file (a @c .c or a @c .S file) is compiled into a @c .o file in the @c bin/ directory. Etherboot makes minimal use of @@ -77,6 +77,11 @@ You can see the full list of object files that will be built using @endcode +@subsection comp_ar After compilation + +Once all objects have been compiled, they will be collected into a +build library ("blib") in <tt>bin/blib.a</tt>. + @subsection comp_custom Customising compilation The Makefile rules for a particular object can be customised to a @@ -190,11 +195,225 @@ You can build targets with debug messages (DBG()) enabled using e.g. @endcode You will probably not need to use these targets directly, since a -mechanism exists to select debugging levels at link-time; see @ref -link_debug. +mechanism exists to select debugging levels at build time; see @ref +debug. @section linking Linking -@subsection link_debug Debugging-enabled builds +@subsection link_overview Overview + +Etherboot is designed to be small and extremely customisable. This is +achieved by linking in only the features that are really wanted in any +particular build. + +There are two places from which the list of desired features is +obtained: + + -# @ref link_config_h + -# @ref link_cmdline + +@subsection link_config_h config.h + +The config.h file is used to define global build options that are +likely to apply to all images that you build, such as the console +types, supported download protocols etc. See the documentation for +config.h for more details. + +@subsection link_cmdline The make command line + +When you type a command such as + +@code + + make bin/dfe538.zrom + +@endcode + +it is used to derive the following information: + + - We are building a compressed ROM image + - The DFE538 is a PCI NIC, so we need the decompressing PCI ROM prefix + - The PCI IDs for the DFE538 are 1186:1300 + - The DFE538 is an rtl8139-based card, therefore we need the rtl8139 driver + +You can see this process in action using the command + +@code + + make bin/dfe538.zrom.info + +@endcode + +which will print + +@code + + Elements : dfe538 + Prefix : zrom + Drivers : rtl8139 + ROM name : dfe538 + Media : rom + + ROM type : pci + PCI vendor : 0x1186 + PCI device : 0x1300 + + LD driver symbols : obj_rtl8139 + LD prefix symbols : obj_zpciprefix + LD ID symbols : pci_vendor_id=0x1186 pci_device_id=0x1300 + + LD target flags : -u obj_zpciprefix --defsym check_obj_zpciprefix=obj_zpciprefix -u obj_rtl8139 --defsym check_obj_rtl8139=obj_rtl8139 -u obj_config --defsym check_obj_config=obj_config --defsym pci_vendor_id=0x1186 --defsym pci_device_id=0x1300 + +@endcode + +This should be interpreted as follows: + +@code + + Elements : dfe538 + Prefix : zrom + +@endcode + +"Elements" is the list of components preceding the first dot in the +target name. "Prefix" is the component following the first dot in the +target name. (It's called a "prefix" because the code that makes it a +@c .zrom (rather than a @c .dsk, @c .zpxe or any other type of target) +usually ends up at the start of the resulting binary image.) + +@code + + Drivers : rtl8139 + +@endcode + +"Drivers" is the list of drivers corresponding to the "Elements". +Most drivers support several network cards. The PCI_ROM() and +ISA_ROM() macros are used in the driver source files to list the cards +that a particular driver can support. + +@code + + ROM name : dfe538 + +@endcode + +"ROM name" is the first element in the "Elements" list. It is used to +select the PCI IDs for a PCI ROM. + +@code + + Media : rom + +@endcode + +"Media" is the "Prefix" minus the leading @c z, if any. + +@code + + ROM type : pci + PCI vendor : 0x1186 + PCI device : 0x1300 + +@endcode + +These are derived from the "ROM name" and the PCI_ROM() or ISA_ROM() +macros in the driver source files. + +@code + + LD driver symbols : obj_rtl8139 + LD prefix symbols : obj_zpciprefix + +@endcode + +This is the interesting part. At this point, we have established that +we need the rtl8139 driver (i.e. @c rtl8139.o) and the decompressing +PCI prefix (i.e. @c zpciprefix.o). Our build system (via the +compiler.h header file) arranges that every object exports a symbol +obj_@<object@>; this can be seen by e.g. + +@code + + objdump -t bin/rtl8139.o + +@endcode + +which will show the line + +@code + + 00000000 g *ABS* 00000000 obj_rtl8139 + +@endcode + +By instructing the linker that we need the symbols @c obj_rtl8139 and +@c obj_zpciprefix, we can therefore ensure that these two objects are +included in our build. (The linker will also include any objects that +these two objects require, since that's the whole purpose of the +linker.) + +In a similar way, we always instruct the linker that we need the +symbol @c obj_config, in order to include the object @c config.o. @c +config.o is used to drag in the objects that were specified via +config.h; see @ref link_config_h. + +@code + + LD target flags : -u obj_zpciprefix --defsym check_obj_zpciprefix=obj_zpciprefix -u obj_rtl8139 --defsym check_obj_rtl8139=obj_rtl8139 -u obj_config --defsym check_obj_config=obj_config --defsym pci_vendor_id=0x1186 --defsym pci_device_id=0x1300 + +@endcode + +These are the flags that we pass to the linker in order to include the +objects that we want in our build, and to check that they really get +included. (This latter check is needed to work around what seems to +be a bug in @c ld). + +The linker does its job of linking all the required objects together +into a coherent build. The best way to see what is happening is to +look at one of the resulting linker maps; try, for example + +@code + + make bin/dfe538.dsk.map + +@endcode + +The linker map includes, amongst others: + + - A list of which objects are included in the build, and why. + - The results of processing the linker script, line-by-line. + - A complete symbol table of the resulting build. + +It is worth spending time examining the linker map to see how an +Etherboot image is assembled. + +Whatever format is selected, the Etherboot image is built into an ELF +file, simply because this is the default format used by @c ld. + +@section finalisation Finalisation + +@subsection final_overview Overview + +The ELF file resulting from @ref linking "linking" needs to be +converted into the final binary image. Usually, this is just a case +of running + +@code + + objcopy -O binary <elf file> <output file> + +@endcode + +to convert the ELF file into a raw binary image. Certain image +formats require special additional treatment. + +@subsection final_rom ROM images + +ROM images must be rounded up to a suitable ROM size (e.g. 16kB or +32kB), and certain header information such as checksums needs to be +filled in. This is done by the @c makerom.pl program. + +@section debug Debugging-enabled builds */ |