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Ce.bib File and the ROM Image (Compact 2013)

  • Article

3/26/2014

The Makeimg build phase combines all binary image builder (.bib) files into one file called ce.bib, which it stores in the flat release directory. Ce.bib defines all of the modules and files to include in the OS image, and where to place them within ROM on the device. This topic provides an overview of ce.bib, and discusses the relationship between ce.bib and the final ROM image.

The build system uses .bib files to determine which files and modules go into the final run-time image. The ce.bib file is the concatenation of the .bib files in the OS project. For more information about the .bib file format, see Binary Image Builder (.bib) File.

 

Ce.bib File Sections

Each .bib file contains the following four sections:

  • MEMORY: Specifies and names regions for memory usage on the device.
  • CONFIG: Specifies output options.
  • MODULES: Specifies binary executable files to include in nk.bin, the single image file that contains all modules in the image.
  • FILES: Specifies non-executable files to include in nk.bin.

The following code example shows the structure of ce.bib, along with entries for memory regions, configuration, modules, and files. (For readability, many lines have been removed and the paths simplified.) Subsequent sections in this topic explain the MEMORY, CONFIG, MODULES, and FILES sections in more detail.

MEMORY
  DMA       80100000  00030000  RESERVED   ; DMA, see platform.reg for 8237 driver
  BLDR      80130000  00050000  RESERVED   ; boot loader loads here - see bldr.bib
  BLDRRAM1  80180000  0007C000  RESERVED   ; boot loader uses this as RAM - see bldr.bib

  NK       80220000  009E0000  RAMIMAGE
  RAM      80C00000  00400000  RAM
...

CONFIG
  AUTOSIZE=ON
  ROMOFFSET=80000000
  KERNELFIXUPS=ON...
  FSRAMPERCENT=0x00000010
  ROMFLAGS=10
...

MODULES
; Name            Path                                                               Memory Type
; --------------  ---------------------------------------------                      -----------
  nk.exe          C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\oal.exe         NK  SHZ
  kitl.dll        C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\kitl.dll        NK  SHZ
  kernel.dll      C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\kernprof.dll    NK  SHZ
  coredll.dll     C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\coredll.dll     NK  SHM
  oalioctl.dll    C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\oalioctl.dll    NK  SHK
  k.coredll.dll   C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\k.coredll.dll   NK  SHMK
  locale.dll      C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\nlslocale.dll   NK  SHQ
...

FILES
; Name            Path                                                               Memory Type
; --------------  ---------------------------------------------                      -----------
  ceconfig.h      C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\ceconfig.h      NK
  wince.nls       C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\wince.nls       NK  SHU
  initobj.dat     C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\initobj.dat     NK  SH
  boot.hv         C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\boot.hv         NK  SH
  default.hv      C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\default.hv      NK  SH
  tahoma.ttf      C:\WINCE800\public\common\oak\files\tahoma.ttf                     NK  SHU
...

 

MEMORY Section

The memory section defines named memory regions on the target platform. The following code example from the previous section shows five named regions: DMA, BLDR, BLDRRAM1, NK, and RAM. The first three regions are reserved. The NK region is designated as a RAMIMAGE, which the build system uses to create a corresponding .bin file (in this case, nk.bin). The last region, RAM, designates a range of RAM to use for a file system or for some other use. (The contents of this region are specified in the MODULES and FILES sections.)

MEMORY
  DMA       80100000  00030000  RESERVED   ; DMA, see platform.reg for 8237 driver
  BLDR      80130000  00050000  RESERVED   ; boot loader loads here - see bldr.bib
  BLDRRAM1  80180000  0007C000  RESERVED   ; boot loader uses this as RAM - see bldr.bib

  NK       80220000  009E0000  RAMIMAGE
  RAM      80C00000  00400000  RAM

In the above code, the MEMORY section reserves 16 MB for RAM: physical RAM on the device starts at address 0x800000, and the RAM section starts at address 0x80C00000 with a length of 0x0040000 bytes, for a total of 16 MB (0x00C00000 + 0x0040000 = 0x01000000 or 16 MB). It also reserves two regions for a boot loader. The boot loader itself has a .bib file (bldr.bib) that defines its regions as shown in the following code example:

MEMORY

;   Name      Start     Size      Type
;   -------   --------  --------  ----
    BLDRS     00130000  00050000  RAMIMAGE
    RAM       00180000  0007EF00  RAM
    IVT       001FEF00  00000100  RESERVED ; See pIVT
    BOOTARGS  001FF000  00001000  RESERVED ; Boot arguments, see also BOOT_ARG_PTR_LOCATION, BOOT_ARG_LOCATION_NP, BOOT_ARG_PTR_LOCATION_NP

The BLDRS memory region address and size corresponds to the BLDR region in the config.bib file, after the build system applies the ROMOFFSET of 0x8000000. The same rule applies to the RAM for the boot loader, which in turn also specifies RESERVED memory. (The OS uses RESERVED memory, but RESERVED regions are not included in the run-time image or RAM space.) Because the MEMORY section entry specifies BLDRS as RAMIMAGE, the build system creates a corresponding .bin file, in this case bldrs.bin.

CONFIG Section

The optional CONFIG section defines configuration settings that allow Romimage.exe to customize its output.

For example, FSRAMPERCENT specifies the amount of RAM the kernel allocates for use by the file system or object store, if you selected these features. For more information, including a complete list of configuration options, see CONFIG Section.

MODULES Section

The MODULES Section specifies binary executable files to include in the .bin file. The Makeimg build step “fixes up” executable files; that is, the Romimage Tool (romimage.exe) modifies the executable files to use the run-time virtual addresses.

Important

Do not include non-executable files in the MODULES section, because Romimage cannot fix these up. This prohibition includes managed .dll or .exe files, which are not executable binary files, but instead consist of intermediate code. Including non-executable files in the MODULES section can cause build errors in the Makeimg phase.

The following code example from the above config.bib file shows a partial listing of the modules to include in nk.bin. The Memory column specifies the memory region in which the build system places the module (in this case, the NK memory regions defined in the config.bib MEMORY section).

MODULES
; Name            Path                                                               Memory Type
; --------------  ---------------------------------------------                      -----------
  nk.exe          C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\oal.exe         NK  SHZ
  kitl.dll        C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\kitl.dll        NK  SHZ
  kernel.dll      C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\kernprof.dll    NK  SHZ
  coredll.dll     C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\coredll.dll     NK  SHM
  oalioctl.dll    C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\oalioctl.dll    NK  SHK
  k.coredll.dll   C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\k.coredll.dll   NK  SHMK
  locale.dll      C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\nlslocale.dll   NK  SHQ
...

For the boot loader, the MODULES section of bldr.bib specifies that you place the module in the BLDRS memory region and, because BLDRS is defined as RAMIMAGE, into a corresponding bldrs.bin file as well. This is shown in the following code example:

MODULES

; Name      Path                                                                                     Memory   Flags
; --------  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  -------  ------
  nk.exe    $(SG_OUTPUT_ROOT)\platform\$(_TGTPLAT)\target\$(_TGTCPU)\$(WINCEDEBUG)\bldrS.exe  bldrS

By default, Makeimg does not compress files specified in the MODULES section. To compress files in this section, add the ‘C’ flag. For information about setting flags, see Read and Interpret MODULES and FILES Entries.

DLL Module Processing. DLL files consist of a portable executable (PE) header, a section table, and various sections. If the MODULES section includes a DLL, Makeimg parses it to strip off the PE header and the section table before it fixes up the remaining DLL sections and adds them to the ROM image, as shown in the following figure.

Note

Because of the 4 KB-page alignment in ROM, information in ROM might not have exactly the same arrangement as the DLL file.

Analyzing ROM Size - DLL

FILES Section

The FILES Section specifies non-executable files — such as data files, resource DLLs, audio files, and bitmap files — to include in nk.bin. The FILES section also specifies managed code files, which are not considered executable because they consist of intermediate code, not native code. The following code example from config.sys shows a partial list of the files to add to the NK memory region, which in turn instructs the build to include these in nk.bin.

FILES
; Name            Path                                                               Memory Type
; --------------  ---------------------------------------------                      -----------
  ceconfig.h      C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\ceconfig.h      NK
  wince.nls       C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\wince.nls       NK  SHU
  initobj.dat     C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\initobj.dat     NK  SH
  boot.hv         C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\boot.hv         NK  SH
  default.hv      C:\WINCE800\OSDesigns\RelDir\VirtualPC_x86_Release\default.hv      NK  SH
  tahoma.ttf      C:\WINCE800\public\common\oak\files\tahoma.ttf                     NK  SHU
...

By default, Makeimg compresses files specified in the FILES section. To leave a file uncompressed, add the ‘U’ flag.

See Also

Concepts

Understand ROM Size and Structure
Read and Interpret MODULES and FILES Entries

Other Resources

Make Binary Image Tool (Makeimg.exe)