8.4.4 Allocate Memory for Use by the Loader to Pass Arguments (--arg_size Option)

The --arg_size option instructs the linker to allocate memory to be used by the loader to pass arguments from the command line of the loader to the program. The syntax of the --arg_size option is:

--arg_size=size

The size is the number of bytes to be allocated in target memory for command-line arguments.

By default, the linker creates the __c_args__ symbol and sets it to -1. When you specify --arg_size=size, the following occur:

• The linker creates an uninitialized section named .args of size bytes.
• The __c_args__ symbol contains the address of the .args section.

The loader and the target boot code use the .args section and the __c_args__ symbol to determine whether and how to pass arguments from the host to the target program. See the MSP430 Optimizing C/C++ Compiler User's Guide for information about the loader.