memory_regions.icf is not updating with flash_image start_address and few other parameters when generated by IAR EWARM.

Question

Hi, 
 I am trying to implement MCUBoot with blinky project example using RASC and IAR EWARM on RA6M5. I have built the application1 project but the memory_regions.icf file is missing few parameters like: 
 FSP_BOOTABLE_IMAGE = 0x1; RAM_NS_START = 0x20080000; FLASH_NS_START = 0x40000; FLASH_IMAGE_END = 0x40000; FLASH_NS_IMAGE_START = 0x40000; FLASH_NSC_START = 0x40000; RAM_NSC_START = 0x20080000; FLASH_IMAGE_LENGTH = 0x1FE00; XIP_SECONDARY_FLASH_IMAGE_END = 0x60000; XIP_SECONDARY_FLASH_IMAGE_START = 0x40200; FLASH_IMAGE_START = 0x20200; 
 But the memory_regions.ld of the same application that i had built before using E2Studio has the following parameters. Why are these parameters missing and if I add them manually in memory_regions.icf and build it they get erased from the .icf file. How do i fix this?

IK_Renesas · Accepted Answer

Hello adithi , 
 Thanks for reaching out Renesas Engineering Community. 
 The e2studio includes a tooling mechanism which the application project can use to pick up the bootloader project, the flash layout settings and a python command line for creating finally the signed application image. In IAR this tooling mechanism doesn't exist so you have to do some work manually to make it work. 
 Basically as soon as you add in Build settings of your application project in e2studio the .bld file of the bootloader it modifies the memory_regions.ld file automatically to include the information for the flash layout:

So in IAR as you mentioned you need to modify manually the necessary info for the flash layout in the memory_regions.icf file and modify it according your flash layout:

In order these settings won't be overwritten every time you build your project in IAR when using newer RASC versions than 5.2.0 there is a batch file which launches RASC and generated code every time you build your project and that's why you loose the modifications you make to the memory_regions.icf file. To prevent this batch file from running and generate code through RASC and loose your changes every time you build the project you should go to your project Options->Build Actions and remove this Pre-Built and Post-Build commands: 
 
 In my case I made tests with a bootloader project for EK-RA6M5 using overwrite only upgrade mode and I created in IAR a bootloader project using MCUboot and a blinky application project. I will also attach here the projects for your reference. 
 So as soon as I created my bootloader project in IAR using MCUboot and RASC , generated code and built my bootloader project I proceeded creating my application image blinky project with RASC again. 
 1.In my application project I modified the memory_regions.icf file to include the flash layout information by doing the steps mentioned above. 
 2. I built my application project. 
 3. Than I need to convert the output file generated to a .bin file. To do this I run this command in command line: 
 arm-none-eabi-objcopy.exe -O binary Debug\Exe\app_ra6m5_boot.out Debug\Exe\app_ra6m5_boot.out.bin 
 4. The binary file now also contains the option setting registers so to remove these from the binary file I cropped the generated binary by using srec_cat.exe. So I run this command: 
 srec_cat.exe Debug\Exe\app_ra6m5_boot.out.bin -binary -crop 0 0x1FB00 -o Debug\Exe\app_ra6m5_boot.out.bin.cropped -binary 
 And by this way I created a cropped binary finally that doesn't include the option setting registers. 
 5.Then I signed this cropped binary file by running this python script from the bootloader project in command line: 
 python ..\mcuboot_ra6m5\ra\mcu-tools\MCUboot\scripts\imgtool.py sign --key ..\mcuboot_ra6m5\ra\mcu-tools\MCUboot\root-ec-p256.pem --version 1.0 --header-size 0x200 --align 128 --max-align 128 --slot-size 0x20000 --max-sectors 4 --overwrite-only --confirm --pad-header Debug\Exe\app_ra6m5_boot.out.bin.cropped Debug\Exe\app_ra6m5_boot.out.bin.cropped.signed 
 6. Then I needed to write the application image to the area of internal flash that I have declared as primary slot in my bootloader layout. 
 So I loaded into the area where the primary slot starts and I verified that this area includes the application image: 
 
 And that the rest areas like from example from where bootloader starts are blank: 
 
 And this it when I launched a debug session in IAR in my bootloader project the bootloader was able to jump to my application image and I could see the leds on EK-RA6M5 blinking. 
 
 Find the projects in this link for your reference. 
 Your files can be downloaded at: download.transfer.hennge.com/jK0A_abcIZaqq3 
 Expiration date: 2025-04-17 14:24 (UTC) 
 Your files can be accessed with the following password: 6dx1nV1p*8gV 
 
 Best Regards, 
 IK

memory_regions.icf is not updating with flash_image start_address and few other parameters when generated by IAR EWARM.

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