CodeWarrior v5.1 and v5.2 not building to the same .HEX files

[aceshigh78]

I maintain several software projects that were developed using CodeWarrior v5.1.  I was running v5.1 on a Windows 7 PC, but it died unfortunately and I was forced to upgrade to Windows 10. 

My co-worker told me that only v5.2 is compatible with Win10 with a patch workaround, which I've installed and applied, but when I compile those same software projects, the .HEX file is completely different content-wise, and also slightly different size-wise.

The project .MCP files open in v5.2 with no errors or warnings, and it looks like all of the settings and files were carry over and import with no obvious issues.  Is this difference in .HEX file content/size to be expected, or are there any settings or options I might need to modify?

[ZhangJennie · Accepted solution]

Hi

from CW5.1 to 5.2,  some changes have been made inside the compiler itself which corrects  bugs and add new features. For instance, to correct a certain bug, sometimes we have to revise and rearrange lib assembly code or sacrifice the hex code size and etc. Bug fixing can make compiler be more stable and usable. But it will cause the generated burning file not same.

What we can guarantee is the software functionality keep same when compiled code with newer CW version. but we can't guarantee the generated code size and burning file still the same.

Have a nice day,

Jun Zhang