emWin library too large for K64f Cortex M4?

[Swade]

I'm trying to link the emWin library provided by NXP with my application. The problem is that pre-built library is 4MB and there's on 256KB RAM on the microprocessor. How can I use this library on my platform?

Microprocessor: https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/data-sheet/K64P144M120SF5.pdf

emWin library from NXP (using ARMGCC/libemWin_M4F.a  https://www.nxp.com/design/software/embedded-software/nxp-emwin-libraries:EMWIN-GRAPHICS-LIBRARY

Thanks,
Swade

[Swade · Accepted solution]

Found the problem. One of the config files was setting aside a large chunk of memory for the GUI. GUI_X_Conf.c. 

[ErichStyger]

Hi @Swade ,

keep in mind that the file size on disk on your host machine is no indication to the RAM/ROM size needed on the target. The archive (.a, library) is a collection of object files, and the object files include extra information like symbolic and source information which will not use any space on the target. Plus the linker will remove any unused objects too.

A few articles on the subject of ELF/Dwarf files and size information on my blog might help too:

Listing Code and Data Size for each Source File with GNU and Eclipse | MCU on Eclipse 

Printing Code Size Information in Eclipse | MCU on Eclipse 

text, data and bss: Code and Data Size Explained | MCU on Eclipse 

Converting a Raw Binary File into an ELF/Dwarf File for Loading and Debugging | MCU on Eclipse 

I hope hope this helps,

Erich

[Swade]

Thank you that was informative. But even taking that into account the library seems to be too large for inclusion. Here are the memory stats without emWin:

$ /opt/K64F_sdk-sumo/gcc-arm-none-eabi-7-2019-q2-update/bin/arm-none-eabi-size MyExeBefore
text   data  bss    dec   hex filename
399296 3960 7980 411236 64664 MyExeBefore

And here with the emWin library (I had to expand regions in my .ld file just to all this to build):

$ /opt/K64F_sdk-sumo/gcc-arm-none-eabi-7-2019-q2-update/bin/arm-none-eabi-size MyExeAfter
text    data     bss     dec    hex filename
3273664 4008 2629884 5907556 5a2464 MyExeAfter

Perhaps the linker is not removing unreferenced code and data? 

[nxf56274]

Hi,

We have the emwin example in directory 'FRDM-K64F\boards\frdmk64f'. You can refer it.

Have a great day,
TIC

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[Swade]

Thank you. That example seems to only contain code and not the build files (e.g. makefile, project file) that would contain the compiling and linking details. Can you point me in the right direction for those?  

[nxf56274]

Hi,

You can use the mcuxpresso to import this example. The mcuxpresso also use the arm-gcc. The makefile is generated by it.

Have a great day,
TIC

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