Hex File Generation Padding Between Regions

[JFerraris]

Hello!

So I am using the checkbox from VisualGDB Properties that generates a hex file from my build along with the bin and elfs.

It generates the PROGRAM_FLASH regions all fine and the addresses are correct, but I have a region at the end of flash space as well that I want in the generation as well, which it is…!

The catch though is that it pads the entire space between the end of the actual program and the end region with 0x00’s (which is strange because it is FLASH which should be asserted 0xFF but that’s fine)

I’d like to know why it is padding all these 00’s and if it is possible to not have it do that?

Thank you so much!

[support]

Hi,

Normally, the hex files should not have any adding at all – the areas between the sections are simply excluded from the file. Either way, VisualGDB generates these files via the objcopy tool from the toolchain. You can try copying the tool command line from the build log, running it manually and experimenting with various options.

Alternatively, you can try using .bin files – VisualGDB explicitly passes the –gap-fill argument to objcopy when generating them, controlling the filler value between the sections.

[JFerraris]

Thanks for the response.

Okay that is helpful. I am trying to pull out the hex generation command from the log but I can’t get the log to display the actual command used to generate with objcopy.

Do you happen to know all the arguments that it is passed?

That would make sense if it was using -gap-fill with 0x00…

[support]

The exact steps to enable verbose logging depend on your project type. You can find them for most of the project types in our documentation.

If it doesn’t help, please let us know the exact project type you are using (i.e. what was selected on every step of the wizard) and we will point you to the relevant documentation.

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