Re: [ECOS] building redboot on ecos

[Bart Veer <bartv at redhat dot com>]

>>>>> "Ram" == Ram Khatkhedkar <gccram@yahoo.com> writes:

    Ram> i am build eCos 1.3.1 in linux with targert synthic linux
    Ram> from ecos1.3.1.rpm avaliable for download on rehat site

    Ram> now i Want to install redboot on it or i want to add redboot
    Ram> as target where could i get the soures and installing
    Ram> instructions?

RedBoot is not required for synthetic target applications. In the
context of eCos development RedBoot serves two main purposes: it
allows you to download applications over a serial line or ethernet to
a target board, so that you do not have to burn EPROM's or update
flash chips every time you change something; and it provides a set of
gdb stubs so that you can debug the application.

The former is not applicable for the synthetic target because the
executables you build can be run like any other Linux executables. For
example, to run the bin_sem0 testcase you would just type "bin_sem0"
at a shell prompt (assuming you were in the appropriate directory).
This is a lot quicker than downloading anything over a serial line.

The latter is also not applicable because you do not require any gdb
stubs for debugging a synthetic target application. Instead you can
just use the gdb provided with your Linux distribution (or which you
have built yourself), as if you were debugging an ordinary Linux
application. gdb will use something like the ptrace() system call to
interact with the application being debugged, rather than talking to a
remote set of gdb stubs over a serial line. Unfortunately there are
some limitations, e.g. no thread-aware debugging, but that is another
issue. 

RedBoot becomes relevant only when you start developing for real
embedded targets.

Bart