doc/vbcchc12.texi

This chapter documents the Backend for the 68hc12 and 6809/6309 microcontroller families.

@section Additional options for this version

This backend provides the following additional options:

@table @option

    @item -merge-constants
                Place identical floating point constants at the same
                memory location. This can reduce program size and increase
                compilation time. (No fp support yet.)

    @item -const-in-data
                By default constant data will be placed in a read-only
                section. Using this option it will be placed in the
                data section.

    @item -no-delayed-popping
                By default arguments of function calls are not always popped
                from the stack immediately after the call, so that the
                arguments of several calls may be popped at once.
                With this option vbcc can be forced to pop them after every
                function call.
                This may simplify debugging and very slightly reduce the
                stack size needed by the compiled program.

    @item -no-peephole
                Do not perform peephole-optimizations.

    @item -mem-cse
                Try to hold values loaded from memory in registers and
                reuse them. Due to the small register-set of the hc12
                this is disabled by default as it increases register-
                pressure and tends to spill to the stack.

    @item -cpu=<n>
                Specify the processor family. Currently supported values are:
@itemize
@item 6812: Generate code for the Motorola 68hc12 series (default).

@item 6809: Generate code for the Motorola 6809 series.

@item 6309: Generate code for the Hitachi 6309 series (currently identical to 6809).
@end itemize


     @item -acc-glob
                Make the accumulator available for global register allocation.
                By default, the accumulator will only be used for register allocation
                within basic blocks. In many cases, global allocation will result in
                worse code, because the accumulator has to be pushed/popped many times.

     @item -pcrel
                Generate PC-relative code. May not fully work with 68hc12.

     @item -drel
                Generate code that accesses data relative to register @code{u}. Does not
                work with 68hc12.

@end table

@section ABI

    The current version generates assembly output for use with vasm6809_std or the GNU
    assembler using the non-banked model.

        This backend supports the following registers:

        @itemize @minus
        @item @code{d}  for the accumulator (also used for byte, i.e. @code{b})
        @item @code{x}  for index register x
        @item @code{y}  for index register y
        @item @code{u}  for index register u (not on 68hc12)
        @item @code{sp} for the stack-pointer
        @end itemize

    The accumulator and @code{x} are caller-save. The @code{y} register is callee-save.
    The @code{u} register is used as data-page pointer with @code{-drel}.

    The first function argument which has integer or pointer type up to 16 bits
    is passed in the accumulator @code{d}.
    The remaining arguments are passed on the stack.

    Integers and pointers are returned in @code{d} or @code{d/x} (@code{x} contains the higher bits).
    All other types are returned by passing the function the address
    of the result as a hidden argument - so when you call such a function
    without a proper declaration in scope you can expect a crash.

    The elementary data types are represented like:
@example
    type        size in bits        alignment in bytes

    char                8                       1
    short              16                       1
    int                16                       1
    long               32                       1 
    near pointers      16                       1
    far pointers       24                       1 (not yet)
    huge pointers      24                       1 (not yet)
    float              32                       1 (not yet)
    double             64                       1 (not yet)
    long double        64                       1 (not yet)
@end example


@section Target-specific variable-attributes
 
    The 6809/hc12-backend offers the following variable attributes:

@table @code 
    @item __interrupt
         Return with @code{rti} rather than @code{rts}.

    @item __section("name","attr")
                 Place this function/object in section "section"
                 with attributes "attr".

    @item __dpage
          Place the variable in section @code{.dpage} and use direct addressing.

@end table

@section Predefined Macros

        This backend defines the following macros:

@table @code
    @item __HC12__
                If code for 68hc12 is generated.

    @item __6809__
                If code for 6809 is generated.

    @item __6309__
                If code for 6309 is generated.
@        
@end table

@section Stack

    If the @option{-stack-check} option is used, every function-prologue will
    call the function @code{__stack_check} with the stacksize needed by this
    function in register @code{y}. This function has to consider its own
    stacksize and must restore all registers.


@section Stdarg

	Stdarg is supported by the provided include.

@section Known Problems

@itemize @minus
    @item Support for floating point and long long is still missing.
    @item U register is not really used yet.
    @item No support for 6309 extensions yet.
    @item Many optimizations still missing.
    @item Some code generation bugs to be fixed.

@end itemize