IAR Information Center for Arm

Release notes

for IAR Build Tools for Arm version 9.60.3

Read about the latest features, new device support, and program corrections in the release notes.

Highlights

Cortex-M52 support
Support for the new Cortex-M52 core based on the ARMv8.1-M architecture with features such as Helium MVE (M-profile Vector Extension) and Low Overhead loops.
C-STAT support for MISRA C:2023
MISRA C:2023, also known as MISRA C Third Edition, Second Revision, is now supported. It incorporates MISRA C:2012 amendments 2 (AMD2), 3 (AMD3) and 4 (AMD4), plus technical corrigendum 2 (TC2). MISRA C:2023 incorporates support for C11 and C18 language features.
New and updated support for GCC’s "Extensions to the C Programming Language"
The following GCC C language extensions are now supported by the compiler (requires IAR language extensions to be enabled):
- Additional support for __builtin function calls. If supported by the target core, these calls result in code generation using native instructions; else, they are transformed into library function calls.
- The attribute visibility is now supported in C.
- Support for arithmetic on void and function pointers (requires IAR language extensions).
- The __attribute__((__packed__)) construct can now be placed at the end of enum declarations
Support for additional GCC relaxations to ISO C
The following GCC C language extensions are now supported by the compiler (requires IAR language extensions to be enabled):
- In a function that has the return type void, a return statement can return a void expression. For example return (void)expr; (requires IAR language extensions).
- The error Pe042 ("operand types are incompatible") is now a soft error in more language constructs. By reducing the severity of this error and the errors Pe144 and Pe513, an application can mix void * and function pointers.
Cortex-R52 single precision only mode
The compiler can now be configured to only support Cortex-R52 single precision mode.
J-Link: command line debug capability for CI/CD activities and debugging using VS Code on Linux and Windows
The Segger J-Link debug probe has been added to the C-SPY command line utility (cspybat) and the Runtime Analysis tool (C-RUN) on booth Linux and Windows.
Cortex-M55 and Cortex-M85 ETM trace
The debugger trace decoder now supports full instruction trace on the latest Arm Cortex-M cores.
SDM Debug Authentication
The C-SPY debugger now supports the Arm SDM (Secure Debug Manager) debug authentication method on I-jet, CMSIS-DAP and ST-LINK.
Experimental support for Sys V shared objects
Shared objects is a new type of output from the linker. It allows creation of shared libraries that can be dynamically loaded by an application. Use of shared objects requires the use of a dynamic loader/linker or something that can act like a dynamic linker. A dynamic linker can load shared objects into available memory and resolve references to and from them. Dynamic linkers are typically part of an operating system.
See IAR C/C++ Development Guide for more information. An example can be found in arm\src\sharedobjects.
Experimental support for SARIF output
The SARIF output format is supported by the compiler, linker, assembler and C-STAT command line tools.

Important information

Upgrade information

License renewal
The upgrade to this version requires a renewal of your network license on the license server computer.

Text encodings

Matching the text encoding of the operating system, the default text encoding for the compiler is UTF-8 on Linux and raw on Microsoft Windows.
- The raw encoding is used as system locale where all characters in the ASCII range 0x80-0xFF are accepted but not recognized.
- To ensure compatible source files either use only ASCII characters or explicitly use the same encoding for both operating systems.
- See IAR C/C++ Development Guide for more information about text encodings.
BXARM 9.60 versions

BXARM 9.60.1 was never publically released. BXARM 9.60.2 is the first public release in the 9.60 series.
Network licenses

For network licenses, IAR Embedded Workbench for Arm version 9.20.1 and later require IAR License Server Tools version 2.18.2 or later. For more information, see technical note TN21842. The latest IAR License Server Tools are backward compatible with previous IAR Embedded Workbench versions.
Note: If you are running older versions of the product, the number of users displayed in the Network Licenses window might be too large. This is cosmetic and does not affect the use of your network license. The problem has been corrected in v2.17.2 of the IAR License Server Tools and the IAR License Manager.
IAR data type qualifiers

IAR data type qualifiers in C++ (e.g., __packed) are now correctly mangled when occurring in a function parameter below the top-level. This is a breaking change of the ABI.
Migration

The debugger flash loader mechanism was changed in version 5.40. If your project uses a default flash loader with no extra parameters, no migration work is needed.
If the debugger detects that your project uses a non-default flash loader or that it uses extra parameters, it will revert to the default flash loader for your device. In addition a .board file will be created in the project directory. If necessary the .board file can be edited and used by manually overriding the default flash loader with this project-specific .board file.
If you are migrating from version 4.x to this version, we recommend that you read the IAR Embedded Workbench Migration Guide for ARM.

Object format

The object format used in the compiler, assembler, linker, and debugger is based on the ARM ABI standard version 2.10 with ELF/DWARF 4.

Trademarks

IAR Systems, IAR Embedded Workbench, IAR Embedded Trust, IAR Connect, IAR C-SPY, IAR C-RUN, IAR C-STAT, IAR Visual State, IAR KickStart Kit, IAR I-jet, IAR I-jet Trace, IAR Academy, IAR, and the logotype of IAR Systems are trademarks or registered trademarks owned by IAR Systems AB.

Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Adobe and Acrobat Reader are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated. CodeWright is a registered trademark of Starbase Corporation. All other product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.