CodeSizer: Why is that binary so big?

birdculture1 pts0 comments

GitHub - Wren6991/CodeSizer: Why is that binary so big? · GitHub

/" data-turbo-transient="true" />

Skip to content

Search or jump to...

Search code, repositories, users, issues, pull requests...

-->

Search

Clear

Search syntax tips

Provide feedback

--><br>We read every piece of feedback, and take your input very seriously.

Include my email address so I can be contacted

Cancel

Submit feedback

Saved searches

Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly

-->

Name

Query

To see all available qualifiers, see our documentation.

Cancel

Create saved search

Sign in

/;ref_cta:Sign up;ref_loc:header logged out"}"<br>Sign up

Appearance settings

Resetting focus

You signed in with another tab or window. Reload to refresh your session.<br>You signed out in another tab or window. Reload to refresh your session.<br>You switched accounts on another tab or window. Reload to refresh your session.

Dismiss alert

{{ message }}

Wren6991

CodeSizer

Public

Notifications<br>You must be signed in to change notification settings

Fork

Star<br>45

master

BranchesTags

Go to file

CodeOpen more actions menu

Folders and files<br>NameNameLast commit message<br>Last commit date<br>Latest commit

History<br>9 Commits<br>9 Commits

.gitignore

.gitignore

LICENSE

LICENSE

README.md

README.md

codesizer.py

codesizer.py

View all files

Repository files navigation

CodeSizer

Why is that binary so big?

What

CodeSizer is a static code size profiling tool.

In size-focused embedded firmware development, the final binary is heavily inlined and link-time-optimised. A single function symbol may cover dozens of inlinees. CodeSizer uses objdump and addr2line to unwind the inline call stack at every instruction address, so code size can be attributed to the correct node in the inline call tree within each function.

The output is a static HTML report file, with a small amount of JavaScript for UI features like toggling expand/collapse of the tree view.

How

From the interactive help:

usage: codesizer.py [-h] [--cross-prefix CROSS_PREFIX] [--section SECTION]<br>elf output

Analyse static code size of an ELF file. Disassemble via objdump, unwind inline<br>call stacks via addr2line, and emit a static HTML report.

positional arguments:<br>elf input ELF file<br>output output HTML file

options:<br>-h, --help show this help message and exit<br>--cross-prefix CROSS_PREFIX<br>prefix for objdump and addr2line (default: riscv32-unknown-<br>elf-)<br>--section, -j SECTION<br>Specify ELF section. Pass multiple times for multiple<br>sections. If unspecified, .text is used.

The correct toolchain must be present on your $PATH with the given prefix, or you must specify a full file path to the toolchain binaries. For example:

If you've installed the gcc-arm-none-eabi package on Ubuntu, then use --cross-prefix=arm-none-eabi-.

If you've installed a riscv-gnu-toolchain build at /opt/riscv/gcc15, then use --cross-prefix=/opt/riscv/gcc15/bin/riscv32-unknown-elf-.

Example Output

This HTML report was generated by the following command:

./codesizer.py --cross-prefix arm-none-eabi- arm-bootrom.elf arm-bootrom.html -j .text -j .secure_gateways

The ELF file comes from the RP2350 A4 bootrom release.

About

Why is that binary so big?

Resources

Readme

License

CC0-1.0 license

Uh oh!

There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Activity

Stars

45<br>stars

Watchers

watching

Forks

forks

Report repository

Releases

v0.1

Latest

Jul 18, 2026

Packages

Uh oh!

There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Contributors

Uh oh!

There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Languages

Python<br>100.0%

You can’t perform that action at this time.

codesizer file prefix reload binary search

Related Articles