gcc - ARM compilation error, VFP registers used by executable, not object file

Question

I have been having this problem for the last few days and I can't get my head around what is really happening here, or what is the problem.

I have a makefile with these flags:

CC = arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc-4.6
FLAGS = -O3 -march=armv7-a -mtune=cortex-a9 -mfpu=neon -ftree-vectorize -mfloat-abi=softfp -std=gnu99

I have a library in a .a file, which has some object files, all I need to do is link them in with my executable. I know the prototypes and all that, the only thing that complains is the following:

/usr/bin/ld: error: *EXECUTABLE* uses VFP register arguments, *OBJECTFILE* does not
/usr/bin/ld: failed to merge target specific data of file *OBJECTFILE*

When I don't use the -mfloat-abi=softfp, I get another error relating to floating point registers.

Does anyone have any idea what is causing this, and what I can do to fix this, such as making it so that my executable does not use Virtual Floating Point Register arguments?

x@x:~/Desktop/perf_test$ make
arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc-4.6 -c -O3 -march=armv7-a -mtune=cortex-a9 -mfpu=neon -ftree-vectorize -std=gnu99 -mfloat-abi=softfp  perf_test.c ../baseline/util.c
arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc-4.6 -o perf_test perf_test.o util.o  ../baseline/lib.a
/usr/bin/ld: error: perf_test uses VFP register arguments, perf_test.o does not
/usr/bin/ld: failed to merge target specific data of file perf_test.o
/usr/bin/ld: error: perf_test uses VFP register arguments, util.o does not
/usr/bin/ld: failed to merge target specific data of file util.o
/usr/bin/ld: error: perf_test uses VFP register arguments, ../baseline/lib.a(a.o) does not
/usr/bin/ld: failed to merge target specific data of file ../baseline/lib.a(a.o)
/usr/bin/ld: error: perf_test uses VFP register arguments, ../baseline/lib.a(b.o) does not
/usr/bin/ld: failed to merge target specific data of file ../baseline/lib.a(b.o)
/usr/bin/ld: error: perf_test uses VFP register arguments, ../baseline/lib.a(c.o) does not
/usr/bin/ld: failed to merge target specific data of file ../baseline/lib.a(c.o)
/usr/bin/ld: error: perf_test uses VFP register arguments, ../baseline/lib.a(d.o) does not
/usr/bin/ld: failed to merge target specific data of file ../baseline/lib.a(d.o)
/usr/bin/ld: error: perf_test uses VFP register arguments, ../baseline/lib.a(e.o) does not
/usr/bin/ld: failed to merge target specific data of file ../baseline/lib.a(e.o)
/usr/bin/ld: error: perf_test uses VFP register arguments, ../baseline/lib.a(f.o) does not
/usr/bin/ld: failed to merge target specific data of file ../baseline/lib.a(f.o)
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [perf_test] Error 1

Answer 1

Your target triplet indicates that your compiler is configured for the hard-float ABI. This means that the libgcc library will also be hardfp. The error message indicates that at least part of your system is using soft-float ABI.

If the compiler has multilib enabled (you can tell with -print-multi-lib) then you can use -mfloat-abi=softfp, but if not then that option won't help you much: gcc will happily generate softfp code, but then there'll be no compatible libgcc to link against.

Basically, hardfp and softfp are just not compatible. You need to get your whole system configured one way or the other.

EDIT: some distros are, or will be, "multiarch". If you have one of those then it's possible to install both ABIs at once, but that's done by doubling everything up -- the compatibility issues still exist.