Setting Up Eclipse IDE for Programming NEORV32 with OpenOCD – Encountering Linker Errors

[Tahamermer]

Hello NEORV32 Community,

I'm currently working on a project using the NEORV32 processor, and I'm looking to set up my development environment with Eclipse IDE, utilizing OpenOCD for debugging.

I have attempted to install the GCC RISC-V toolchain (gcc-riscv64-unknown-elf), but during the setup, I encountered several linker errors related to libc.a:

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C:\SysGCC\risc-v\riscv64-unknown-elf\lib\libc.a(lib_a-closer.o): in function _close_r': Test8 C/C++ Problem C:\SysGCC\risc-v\riscv64-unknown-elf\lib\libc.a(lib_a-fstatr.o): in function _fstat_r': Test8 C/C++ Problem
C:\SysGCC\risc-v\riscv64-unknown-elf\lib\libc.a(lib_a-isattyr.o): in function _isatty_r': Test8 C/C++ Problem C:\SysGCC\risc-v\riscv64-unknown-elf\lib\libc.a(lib_a-lseekr.o): in function _lseek_r': Test8 C/C++ Problem
C:\SysGCC\risc-v\riscv64-unknown-elf\lib\libc.a(lib_a-openr.o): in function _open_r': Test8 C/C++ Problem C:\SysGCC\risc-v\riscv64-unknown-elf\lib\libc.a(lib_a-readr.o): in function _read_r': Test8 C/C++ Problem
C:\SysGCC\risc-v\riscv64-unknown-elf\lib\libc.a(lib_a-signalr.o): in function _getpid_r': Test8 C/C++ Problem C:\SysGCC\risc-v\riscv64-unknown-elf\lib\libc.a(lib_a-signalr.o): in function _kill_r': Test8 C/C++ Problem
C:\SysGCC\risc-v\riscv64-unknown-elf\lib\libc.a(lib_a-writer.o): in function `_write_r': Test8 C/C++ Problem

My specific questions are:

Are there any known issues with the gcc-riscv64-unknown-elf toolchain that might be causing these linker errors?
What might be the correct way to resolve these issues?
Are there any specific OpenOCD scripts or configurations tailored for NEORV32?
What are the recommended settings for debugging NEORV32 in Eclipse using OpenOCD?
I would greatly appreciate any assistance or pointers from those who have experience with this configuration. If there's existing documentation or tutorials that cover this setup, please direct me to them.

Thank you very much for your time and help!

Best regards,

[stnolting]

Are there any known issues with the gcc-riscv64-unknown-elf toolchain that might be causing these linker errors?

This looks like a GCC/toolchain issue. I assume you have a toolchain, where the C standard library expects a "full-scale" Linux-like OS.

Btw, do you use any functions from stdio.h that might pull-in those primitives (like printf or file operations)?

What might be the correct way to resolve these issues?

You could use an "embedded" toolchain that uses newlib as standard C library (like this one):

When using newlib you still need to provide those system primitves, but you can implement them as stubs (see sw/lib/source/syscalls.c). Maybe you could also provide those stubs for your toolchain.

Are there any specific OpenOCD scripts or configurations tailored for NEORV32?

Yes, there is a pre-configured openOCD script: sw/openocd/openocd_neorv32.cfg

What are the recommended settings for debugging NEORV32 in Eclipse using OpenOCD?

I'm not really familiar with Eclipse - I prefer the console + editor approach 😉 But if you are using GCC/GDB then it should not be too difficult to integrate NEORV32. Just make sure you use the core's linker script and optimally also the pre-defined Makefile for compilation.

[Tahamermer]

Hello,

I wanted to let you know that I've installed OpenOCD on Ubuntu and also set up GDB. Thank you for your suggestions. I'll give it a try and let you know the results. Thanks again for your help.

Best regards.

[stnolting]

Great to hear! 🚀 👍