[Avrora] ELF loader implemented

[E. Weddington]

Ben L. Titzer wrote:

> Hello everyone,
>
> I've just completed the first version of the ELF binary format  
> loader. Now avrora can load binary code directly from an ELF file,  
> disassemble it, and then execute it, just like you would with avr- 
> objdump, but without the error-prone and slow avr-objdump step.  
> Programs in the ELF format are smaller than in the objdump format,  
> and they load faster. Additionally, the ELF loader has more complete  
> access to the symbol table information (instead of whatever avr- 
> objdump chooses to display). At the moment though, the ELF loader  
> does not load the symbols into the program representation, but that  
> is coming.
>
> There are also options to dump out the ELF information in a readable  
> format for you to see what is in your ELF file.
>
> This functionality is in Beta 1.7.29.
>
> Files with the extension ".elf" will automatically be assumed to be  
> in the ELF format.
>
> In the future I plan to load the symbol table information and the  
> STABS debugging information for much better simulator output and  
> source-level debugging capabilities.


Thank you *very much* for doing this work Ben! It's very much appreciated!

I'm curiouse: is there any particular reason why you are choosing to do 
STABS debugging information? The latest WinAVR releases are using 
DWARF-2 as the default debugging information in the ELF files. Are you 
planning on supporting DWARF-2 in the near future?

I'm looking forward to working with Avrora in the near future. ;-)

>
> IN OTHER NEWS:
>
> Over the past month I have been working exclusively on porting Avrora  
> to the MSP430 DSP microcontroller. 

Boo! Hiss!
:-)

> This is a completely different  microcontroller architecture, and it 
> is used in the Telos and Tmote- sky sensor network nodes. Using a 
> domain-specific language for  describing instruction sets, I can now 
> generate Instruction classes,  a disassembler, and many other tools 
> for MSP430 code. I am working on  unifying and abstracting the parts 
> of Avrora that are dependent on  the AVR so that a new MSP430 
> interpreter can coexist and work  seamlessly with the rest of the 
> system. When this is complete, Avrora  will be well on its way to 
> supporting Telos; no longer tied to the  AVR (HMMM, but what about the 
> name?)

Spin it off as a seperate project?
Msprora? (Though how do you pronounce it? ;-)

>
> A new tool is being spun off of Avrora, The Java Interpreter  
> Generator (jIntGen). This will make its debut simultaneously with the  
> Avrora Beta 1.8.0 release some months from now.


And what does this tool do, exactly?

Thanks
Eric Weddington