[uClinux-dev] BINFMT_RELOC error when linking to pthreads

[Sean McGranaghan]

Hello all,

I have an application that fails to load with the following message 
"BINFMT_FLAT: reloc outside program." I am using the Freescale 
MCF5208EVBe platform and cross tools that come with the Steroidmicro 
eval board. (SBCToolsV3 - GCC 3.4.0) I also have an independent build 
from the uClinux Coldfire distro. I have seen similar issues in the list 
archives but I am at a loss as to how to fix this. Here is a dirt simple 
application which fails:

    #include <stdio.h>
    #include <semaphore.h>

    typedef struct
    {
        void  (*func)(void);
    }
    FUNC;

    static void func(void)
    {
    }

    static FUNC fcntbl[] =
    {
        { func },
    };

    int main(int argc, char *argv[])
    {
        sem_t s;
        sem_init(&s, 0, 0);
        return 0;
    }

This application uses a statically initialized global table and links to 
an external library (pthreads). Both of these conditions seem to be 
necessary to generate the loader error. I did not see a single solution 
to the problem on the list. In an effort to solve this in the past it 
looks like there were two approaches:

1. Shuffle around sections in the elf2flt linker script. I think the 
intent was to avoid a conflict with C++ constructors and globally 
initialized data.

2. Modify binfmt_flat.c, suspecting a bug in either the relocation 
macros of ntoh macros.

So which is it? A link script issue or a loader issue? I am hoping this 
is just a matter of getting my compiler flags setup correctly and 
matching the options used to build the libraries. Building for a flat 
memory model seems a bit tricky.

Please feel free to redirect me as necessary, any help is *greatly* 
appreciated.

Thanks,
Sean McGranaghan