The compiler produces relocatable blocks of code and data. These blocks, called sections, are allocated in memory in a variety of ways to conform to a variety of system configurations. See Section 6.1.1 for a complete description of how the compiler uses these sections.
The compiler creates two basic kinds of sections: initialized and uninitialized. Table 11-1 summarizes the initialized sections. Table 11-2 summarizes the uninitialized sections.
| Name | Contents |
|---|---|
| .args | Reserved space for copying command line arguments before the main() function is called by the boot routine. See Section 3.6. |
| .binit | Boot time copy tables (See Section 12.8.4.2 for information on BINIT in linker command files.) |
| .c7xabi.exidx | Index table for exception handling; read-only (see --exceptions option). |
| .c7xabi.extab | Unwinding instructions for exception handling; read-only (see --exceptions option). |
| .cinit | The compiler does not generate a .cinit section unless the --rom_mode linker option is specified. If --rom_mode is specified, the linker creates this section, which contains tables for explicitly initialized global and static variables. |
| .const | Global and static const variables, including string constants and initializers for local variables. |
| .data | Global and static non-const variables that are explicitly initialized. |
| .got | Global offset table. |
| .init_array | Table of constructors to be called at startup. |
| .name.load | Compressed image of section name; read-only (See Section 12.8 for information on copy tables.) |
| .ovly | Copy tables other than boot time (.binit) copy tables. Read-only data. |
| .TI.crctab | Generated CRC checking tables. Read-only data. |
| Name | Contents |
|---|---|
| .bss | Uninitialized global and static variables |
| .cio | Buffers for stdio functions from the run-time support library |
| .stack | |
| .sysmem | Memory pool (heap) for dynamic memory allocation (malloc, etc) |
When you link your program, you must specify where to allocate the sections in memory. In general, initialized sections are linked into ROM or RAM; uninitialized sections are linked into RAM.
The linker provides MEMORY and SECTIONS directives for allocating sections. For more information about allocating sections into memory, see Section 12.5.