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commit 14e446628e54f7d6547005fe34dd661382341caf
Author: Kerogit <kr....@kerogit.eu>
AuthorDate: Thu Jul 3 01:50:10 2025 +0200
Documentation/platforms/avr: document options of keeping const vars in flash
This patch adds a document that describes why const variables need to be
copied into the RAM in AVR architecture for normal program flow in NuttX.
It then describes options of accessing them directly from the flash without
need to do any copying.
Patch was tested by building the documentation.
Signed-off-by: Kerogit <kr....@kerogit.eu>
---
.../platforms/avr/common/constants-in-progmem.rst | 180 +++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 180 insertions(+)
diff --git a/Documentation/platforms/avr/common/constants-in-progmem.rst
b/Documentation/platforms/avr/common/constants-in-progmem.rst
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index 00000000000..8daf0f58d5d
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+++ b/Documentation/platforms/avr/common/constants-in-progmem.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,180 @@
+===================================
+Keeping constants in program memory
+===================================
+
+By default, all constants in a program running on AVR device are copied
+into RAM. This document describes the reasons for doing that and options
+to keep them in program memory.
+
+Introduction
+============
+
+AVR architecture is a Harvard architecture, program and data memories are
+accessed over separate buses with their own address spaces. While this approach
+has its advantages, it does not match well with C programs which expect
+to be able to access everything in the same way. (That is - using
+the same instructions.) In fact, unless some measures are taken, C program
+is completely unable to access initialized variables.
+
+Consider this variable declaration and function call:
+
+::
+
+ const char hello[] = "Hello, world\n";
+ printf(hello);
+
+When this code is compiled, the string is stored somewhere within
+the program and uploaded to the program memory (flash.) Pointer
+variable ``hello`` then contains address of the string. Call
+to ``printf`` receives this address and attempts to load and process
+characters of this string - on AVR, indirect load from memory
+instructions would be used for that.
+
+On a von Neumann architecture, which has single address space
+for both program and data, this would pose no problem. Since
+the program memory is part of the overall address space, the load
+instructions can reach the data contained within it. This is,
+however, not the case for AVR. Anything stored
+in program memory is inaccessible for regular load instruction
+and the ``printf`` call would fail.
+
+Solution of the problem
+=======================
+
+AVR provides instructions that are able to load data from program memory.
+These instructions can be used to copy all the constants into the RAM,
+the copy is then available to regular load instructions and the program
+can work correctly.
+
+Internally, variable ``hello`` is altered to contain address of the copy
+of the string with the data address space . It can be passed freely into
+``printf`` or any other function.
+
+All that is needed is a code that performs that copy and that code
+is present in NuttX. It is executed automatically at program startup.
+If the application is being developed for a supported board, everything
+happens automatically. (If the application is being developed for a custom
board, the board's
+linker script only needs to provide some variables - common architecture
+code then takes care of the rest.)
+
+In other words - by default, any application running on NuttX is able
+to freely pass any variable to any NuttX interface.
+
+Problem of the solution
+=======================
+
+As described, this solution works reliably and correctly. However, there
+is a significant cost to it - it consumes RAM, which is a limited resource.
+For example, one of the supported chips is ATmega128 featuring 4kB of SRAM.
+Even a simple program will quickly consume significant part of it,
+especially if it contains a lot of strings.
+
+Constants in program memory
+===========================
+
+As its name suggests, this document describes techniques used
+to make the program work without the need to copy constants to RAM.
+
+Using PROGMEM
+-------------
+
+PROGMEM is a macro defined GNU's C library for AVR architecture.
+It translates to a qualifier that instructs the compiler not to move
+the variable from program memory to RAM. It is used like this:
+
+::
+
+ const uint8_t values[4] PROGMEM = { 0, 2, 4, 6 };
+
+When the variable is declared this way, it will not be copied to RAM
+by the initialization code.
+It cannot be used by normal means in this state though. As a pointer,
+it holds address of data in program memory. This makes anything like
+the following impossible:
+
+::
+
+ function(values);
+
+The issue here is described at the beginning of the document. Contents
+of ``values`` is not present in the RAM and therefore cannot be reached
+using regular load instructions.
+
+Instead, the compiler needs to be explicitly instructed to read from
+program memory. The C library provides functions to achieve that. Those
+functions will accept the pointer to program memory and are at least
+partially written in AVR assembly, making sure that LPM (load from
+program memory) instructions are used.
+
+Main drawback of this method manifests itself when a function needs
+to be able to accept a parameter which may be stored either in RAM
+or in the program memory. It either needs to have an additional parameter
+to distinguish where to read from, or the function needs to be provided
+in two variants. (Or even more variants if it accepts more than one
+such parameter.)
+
+This is unsupported in NuttX altogether. The application may use variables
+declared with PROGMEM qualifier freely but must not pass them to any NuttX
+interface.
+
+Using __memx/__flashx
+=====================
+
+An example usage of the ``__memx`` qualifier would be:
+
+::
+
+ const __memx char hello[] = "Hello, world\n";
+
+In this context, the qualifier has the same same meaning as PROGMEM above,
+the variable will not be copied into the RAM by the initialization code.
+(``__flashx`` has the same meaning but this qualifier is a feature of
relatively
+new - relatively of when this document is written - release of GCC
+and is not used in NuttX.)
+
+The meaning changes when the variable is used, for example:
+
+::
+
+ void function(const __memx char *arg)
+
+In this case, ``__memx`` signals the compiler that the pointer may
+be dereferenced to either the data or the program memory address space.
+That needs to be determined during run-time.
+
+Internally, this is achieved by extending the pointer to 24-bit length;
+this also accommodates devices with more than 64kB program memory.
+Most significant bit in the pointer then determines which address space
+needs to be used when dereferencing the pointer. This bit is set
+for data address space and cleared for program memory address space.
+
+There is a significant run-time cost of using this method. Essentially,
+every memory access to a variable with this qualifier is replaced with
+a function call that determines memory type and reads from appropriate
+address space. This call can take around 15 clock cycles for single
+byte read. It is also entirely possible that unoptimized call
+to eg. strlen will call this function for each byte in the string.
+
+NuttX supports these qualifiers using IOBJ and IPTR macros like this:
+
+::
+
+ const IOBJ char hello[] = "Hello, world\n";
+ void function(const IPTR char *arg);
+
+``IOBJ`` denotes variable that should remain in program memory.
+It currently translates to ``__memx`` but may eventually be switched
+to ``__flashx``. ``IPTR`` always translates to ``__memx``.
+
+This method of keeping constants in program memory
+has a very limited support in NuttX. Essentially, it was
+added as a debugging feature to support format strings with debug
+messages. What this means is that functions related to logging
+tend to have the ``IPTR`` qualifier in their declaration. Other functions
+don't - most interactions with the kernel will not accept these pointers.
+
+Note that both ``IOBJ`` and ``IPTR`` need to be activated by
+:menuselection:`System Type --> Mark const variables with __memx`.
+If this configuration option is not set, both macros are defined
+to be empty and all strings will be copied to RAM (performance penalty
+discussed above is therefore removed as well.)
