NXP Semiconductor

Debugging Bootloader and Application

using KDS
By: Carlos Mendoza / Technical Information Center

About this document

This document explains how to use Kinetis Design Studio to debug both a bootloader and application at
the same time, this will be done using GDB commands to specify an additional symbol file to be used in
the debug session.
The bootloader used for this example is the project for the FRDM-K64F board provided in the KBOOT
1.2.0 named freedom_bootloader and the application is a bareboard led demo that was adapted to
work with this bootloader by following the steps described in this document:
https://community.freescale.com/docs/DOC-256669
The document was created using the MK64FN1M0VLL12 MCU like the one in the FRDM-K64F board, but
the same principles are applicable to any Kinetis MCU.

Software versions
The steps described in this document are valid for the following versions of the software tools:

KDS v3.2.0
KBOOT v1.2.0

Contents
1. Overview and concepts ............................................................................................................................. 3
1.1 Kinetis Bootloader............................................................................................................................... 3
1.2 GDB Server .......................................................................................................................................... 3
2. Flashing Bootloader and Application ........................................................................................................ 4
2.1 Flashing freedom_bootloader project ................................................................................................ 4
2.2 Loading demo application using the Kinetis Updater ......................................................................... 8
2.3 Flashing demo application and bootloader using the P&E advanced programming options .......... 14
3. Debugging Bootloader and Application .................................................................................................. 17
3.1 Debugging bootloader and demo application projects using the P&E interface ............................. 17
3.2 Debugging bootloader and demo application projects using the Segger interface ......................... 24
4. Conclusion. .............................................................................................................................................. 31
Appendix A - References ............................................................................................................................. 32

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1. Overview and concepts

1.1 Kinetis Bootloader
The Kinetis bootloader is a configurable flash programming utility that operates over a serial connection
on Kinetis MCUs. It enables quick and easy programming of Kinetis MCUs through the entire product
lifecycle from application development to final product manufacturing and beyond for updating
applications in the field with confidence.
The bootloader is delivered in two ways: as full source code that is highly configurable; or preprogrammed by NXP into ROM or flash on select Kinetis devices. Host-side command line and GUI tools
are available to communicate with the bootloader. Users can utilize host tools to upload/download
application code via the bootloader.
The KBOOT 1.2.0 release contains the following PC-based host tools:
o
o

blhost - command line debug tool to send individual commands to the bootloader .
Kinetis Updater - GUI application to download and flash an application image.

And the following project types:

o
o
o
o

tower_bootloader bootloader designed to execute from target flash memory on the Tower
platform.
freedom_bootloader bootloader designed to execute from target flash memory on the Freedom
platform.
flashloader bootloader designed to execute from target RAM memory on either the Freedom or
Tower platform.
flashloader_loader bootstrap loader designed to execute from flash memory on either the
Freedom or Tower platform. This loader copies an image of the flashloader into RAM, then executes
the flashloader from RAM.

1.2 GDB Server

The GDB Server is a service or program which sits between the GDB inside Eclipse and the Debug
Probe. GDB talks to the GDB server using TCP/IP and a port number, so that GDB Server can be either on
your host machine, or on a remote machine. It translates and sends commands from the GDB in Eclipse
to the Debug probe, things like setting breakpoints and so on. The communication between the GDB
Server and the Debug Probe depends on the probe capabilities. It can be USB, TCP/IP, Serial or anything
else.

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2. Flashing Bootloader and Application

2.1 Flashing freedom_bootloader project
For this example we will use the freedom_bootloader project, this bootloader was designed to execute
from target flash memory on the Freedom platform. The project can be found on the following path:
C:\Freescale\FSL_Kinetis_Bootloader_1_2_0\targets\MK64F12\kds\freedom_bootloader

Import the freedom_bootloader project to KDS by clicking on Menu > File > Import:

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Select Existing Projects into Workspace and click on Next:

Browse for the project and click on Finish:

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Build the project and then click on Menu > Run > Debug Configurations:

The debug configurations will open, choose the Segger interface and click on Debug. The same
steps apply when using the P&E interface:

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The Debug session will start and the bootloader is now flashed on the board:

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2.2 Loading demo application using the Kinetis Updater

For this section of the document the Kinetis Updater tool will be used to flash the application image to
the MCU. The tool can be found on the following path:
C:\Freescale\FSL_Kinetis_Bootloader_1_2_0\bin\win\KinetisUpdater

Before executing the Kinetis Updater tool we need to generate the binary file of the demo application
that will be flashed to the MCU.
-

Extract the K64F12_Led_Demo project and import it to KDS by clicking on Menu > File > Import:

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Select Existing Projects into Workspace and click on Next:

Browse for the project and click on Finish:

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Build the project and the binary file will be generated in the Debug folder:

Now open the Kinetis Updater tool and click on Select Device:

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Select your device and click on Connect, if the connection is not established perform a reset to
the board:

Click on Home and then on Select Image:

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Browse for the binary file that was generated by the demo project and update the Base address
to 0x0000A000, this address is where the demo application starts:

Click on Home and then on Update:

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Click on the Update button and the application will be loaded to the MCU, the RGB led will start
to toggle indicating that the bootloader jumped to the application:

At this point you can now proceed to the section 3.2 Debugging bootloader and demo
application projects using the Segger interface.

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2.3 Flashing demo application and bootloader using the P&E advanced
programming options
Refer to the sections 2.1 and 2.2 that explain how to import and build both the freedom_bootloader
and K64F12_Led_Demo projects.

Once that both projects are in you workspace and have been built click on Menu > Run > Debug
Configurations:

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Choose the corresponding P&E connection for the bootloader project and generate 1 additional
ELF field:

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Browse for the *.elf file generated by the demo application, click on Apply then on Debug:

The Debug session will start and both the bootloader and demo application are now flashed on
the MCU, you can now proceed to the section 3.1 Debugging bootloader and demo application
projects using the P&E interface.

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3. Debugging Bootloader and Application

3.1 Debugging bootloader and demo application projects using the P&E
interface
-

After the bootloader and the demo application have been flashed to the MCU using the P&E
advanced programming options click on Menu > Run > Debug Configurations:

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Choose the corresponding P&E connection for the bootloader project and go to the Debugger
tab:

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Now we need to specify an additional symbol file to be used in the debug session, this will be
done by using the following GDB command:

add-symbol-file filename address

Where filename is the path to the *.elf file generated by the demo application using double
backslashes:
C:\\Users\\b38285\\workspace.kds-3.0.0\\K64F12_Led_Demo\\Debug\\K64F12_Led_Demo.elf
And the address is the origin of the m_text section of my demo application, in this case
0x0000a410:

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Here are the updated debug configurations, after the GDB command is added, click on Apply
then Debug:

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The Debug session will start:

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Open the main.c file of the K64F_Led_Demo and set a breakpoint in the init_hardware()
function:

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At this point you can step through the bootloader program and then jump to the demo
application and continue debugging it:

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3.2 Debugging bootloader and demo application projects using the Segger
interface
-

After the bootloader has been flashed to the MCU and the demo application was loaded using
the Kinetis Updater tool go to KDS, make sure both projects are opened and click on Menu >
Run > Debug Configurations:

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Choose the corresponding Segger connection for the bootloader project and go to the Debugger
tab:

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Now we need to specify an additional symbol file to be used in the debug session, this will be
done by using the following GDB command:

add-symbol-file filename address

Where filename is the path to the *.elf file generated by the demo application using double
backslashes:
C:\\Users\\b38285\\workspace.kds-3.0.0\\K64F12_Led_Demo\\Debug\\K64F12_Led_Demo.elf
And the address is the origin of the m_text section of my demo application, in this case
0x0000a410:

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Here are the updated debug configurations, after the GDB command is added click on Apply
then Debug:

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The Debug session will start:

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Open the main.c file of the K64F_Led_Demo and set a breakpoint in the init_hardware()
function:

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At this point you can step through the bootloader program and then jump to the demo
application and continue debugging it:

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4. Conclusion.
This document has demonstrated how to use Kinetis Design Studio to flash a bootloader and an
application to an MCU and how to debug the bootloader and application at the same time using the
GDB command add-symbol-file filename address that specifies an additional symbol file to be used in
the debug session.

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Appendix A - References
-

KDS webpage:
www.nxp.com/kds

KBOOT webpage:
www.nxp.com/kboot

Debugging with gdb:

https://sourceware.org/gdb/current/onlinedocs/gdb/

Adapting KDS project for KBOOT flash resident bootloader:

https://community.freescale.com/docs/DOC-256669

MCU on Eclipse - Debugger (GDB Server with P&E and Segger):

http://mcuoneclipse.com/2013/07/22/diy-free-toolchain-for-kinetis-part-3-debugger-gdb-serverwith-pe-and-segger/

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