ARM: Keil RTX5 Awareness in µVISION Debugger when Using Arm Compiler 5

Information in this knowledgebase article applies to:

• Keil RTX5 version 5.3.0 to 5.5.0
• Arm Compiler 5

SYMPTOM

I am using Arm Compiler 5 to build my project that uses Keil RTX5. Some OS objects, like threads, are created with custom control blocks, specified in the attribute parameter. I even used the section attribute as described in the manual to put the control blocks in the required sections. But when starting the debug session, I don't see these objects in the Component Viewer window for Keil RTX5. The threads also don't appear in the Call Stack + Locals window.

For debugging my application, I need information about that Keil RTX5 objects in the debugger. What can be done about this?

CAUSE

µVision Component Viewer gets the information from the application by reading a certain object "os_cb_sections" from the target image. This object is only referred by the debugger.

Unfortunately, there is no reliable way to make sure, the debugger symbol does not get removed during building the project. So, when the objects with custom control blocks are not shown, "os_cb_sections" is not in the flashed image.

RESOLUTION

To make sure, that the required object gets not removed, add the following option:

--keep=os_cb_sections

in the Options for Target ... - Linker - Misc Controls field and build and flash the project again. After that, the Component Viewer and the Call Stack + Locals window should be aware of the objects.

STATUS

In Keil RTX5 version 5.50 this part was changed and so does no longer require the additional --keep option to make the OS objects information available for the µVision Debugger.

MORE INFORMATION

• Refer to Component Viewer in the µVision User's Guide.
• Refer to Theory of Operation in the RTX5 documentation.
• Refer to Arm Linker in the µVision User's Guide.

Last Reviewed: Thursday, November 12, 2020