Re: [PATCH] riscv: Disable -fpic for SPL builds

[Yao Zi <me@ziyao.cc>]

On Thu, Apr 30, 2026 at 01:59:07PM +0200, Michal Simek wrote:
> When building U-Boot SPL for RISC-V with position-independent code
> (-fpic), the linker fails with relocation errors like:
> 
>   relocation truncated to fit: R_RISCV_PCREL_HI20 against `symbol'
> 
> This occurs because SPL's linker script places .bss in a separate
> memory region (.bss_mem) from .text/.data (.spl_mem). With -fpic,
> accessing global variables uses PC-relative GOT addressing, which
> fails when the distance between code and data exceeds the 20-bit
> signed offset limit of R_RISCV_PCREL_HI20.
> 
> The main U-Boot binary requires -fpic for runtime relocation support,
> but SPL runs from a fixed address and doesn't need position-independent
> code. Disable -fpic for SPL builds while keeping it enabled for the
> main U-Boot image.
> 
>    spl/u-boot-spl: all -1187 bss +4 data -2631 rodata +2440 text -1000
> 
> Signed-off-by: Michal Simek <michal.simek@amd.com>

I've sent a similar patch[1] to fix issues caused by GOT addressing when
building RISC-V ports with LLD, and got feedback that without -fpic
CONFIG_SPL_RELOC_LOADER might break, but don't have the time to
investigate it further.

Maybe we should coordinate on this. I'll take a look on
CONFIG_SPL_RELOC_LOADER first.

Thanks,
Yao Zi

[1]: https://lore.kernel.org/u-boot/20251215172236.52710-2-me@ziyao.cc/