[PATCH] Add support for ELF notes

[Sebastian Huber]

On 25.03.23 00:39, Chris Johns wrote:
> On 24/3/2023 7:32 pm, Sebastian Huber wrote:
>> On 23.03.23 20:07, Chris Johns wrote:
>>> On 24/3/2023 3:57 am, Sebastian Huber wrote:
>>>> On 23.03.23 17:52, Will wrote:
>>>>> Great idea to store this information in the executable itself. Does this need
>>>>> a RTEMS_TEST_STATE_LINK_ONLY test state or something similar for minimum.exe?
>>>>
>>>> With the notes you can build the test. The test runner would look at the notes
>>>> and then decide if it makes sense to run the test or not. It could still run the
>>>> minimum.exe and see if it terminates.
>>>
>>> I welcome notes support. Thanks for adding it.
>>>
>>> How will we control and manage the notes we support?
>>
>> In the new elfnote.h header file there are defines for the note type
>> (domain-specific integer).
> 
> Great.
> 
>>>
>>> Should we document the top level notes domains (?) with some we control and
>>> restrict and others users can use? For example `note.rtems.test`,
>>> `note.rtems.kernel`, `note.rtems.bsp`, and `note.rtems.user`?
>>
>> The section name doesn't matter. You can divide the number space of the note
>> type for this.
> 
> Does this mean we define the numbers or number ranges or is it left open? I am
> not sure I am following this bit.

The patch has this:

#define ELF_NOTE_RTEMS_TYPE( _index ) ( ( _index ) + 0x10000 )

We basically have 32-bits available. We could also use something like this:

#define ELF_NOTE_RTEMS_BASE_TYPE( _index ) ( ( _index ) + 0x10000000 )

#define ELF_NOTE_RTEMS_TEST_TYPE( _index ) ( ( _index ) + 0x20000000 )

#define ELF_NOTE_RTEMS_USER_TYPE( _index ) ( ( _index ) + 0x30000000 )

...

> 
>>> Do you have any host side tools in mind to access notes apart from the standards
>>> like readefl? Maybe the rtems-exe-info tool could do this?
>>
>> Yes, it should be added to this tool.
> 
> Great. Once we have something merged I can take a look.
> 
>> I think the most important use case is the
>> RTEMS tester currently. You can read the notes with the elftools for Python.
> 
> I could not see an elftools module in the standard cpython support and I have
> carefully avoided any pipy dependences in user facing tools. We have elf support
> in the tool kit so if we can sort something out without needing to add something
> else I would prefer it. I think the first thing to do is the get this into
> rtems.git and then we can address the tooling we need.

We could add a JSON output to rtems-exe-info which is used by the RTEMS 
Tester. The drawback is that you need a process for each executable.

> 
> We have a GSoC project to sort out the post link stuff that was stripped out
> when we moved to waf. Could that detail be added as notes? There is something
> nice about each executable having the needed info and not needing to match an
> exe with a specific installed configuration set up.

I think we just have to try it out.

-- 
embedded brains GmbH
Herr Sebastian HUBER
Dornierstr. 4
82178 Puchheim
Germany
email: sebastian.huber at embedded-brains.de
phone: +49-89-18 94 741 - 16
fax:   +49-89-18 94 741 - 08

Registergericht: Amtsgericht München
Registernummer: HRB 157899
Vertretungsberechtigte Geschäftsführer: Peter Rasmussen, Thomas Dörfler
Unsere Datenschutzerklärung finden Sie hier:
https://embedded-brains.de/datenschutzerklaerung/