I'm working on a bare-metal STM32 project, compiling on a Linux x64 host.
After upgrading my toolchain from gcc-arm-none-eabi-11.2-2022.02 to arm-gnu-toolchain-11.3.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi, I get the following linker warnings:
warning: _close is not implemented and will always fail
warning: _fstat is not implemented and will always fail
warning: _getpid is not implemented and will always fail
warning: _isatty is not implemented and will always fail
warning: _kill is not implemented and will always fail
warning: _lseek is not implemented and will always fail
warning: _open is not implemented and will always fail
warning: _read is not implemented and will always fail
warning: _write is not implemented and will always fail
More comprehensively, I get this:
~/dev_tools/arm-gnu-toolchain-11.3.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/11.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/bin/ld: ~/dev_tools/arm-gnu-toolchain-11.3.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/11.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/lib/thumb/v7e-m+fp/hard/libg.a(libc_a-closer.o): in function `_close_r':
/data/jenkins/workspace/GNU-toolchain/arm-11/src/newlib-cygwin/newlib/libc/reent/closer.c:47: warning: _close is not implemented and will always fail
~/dev_tools/arm-gnu-toolchain-11.3.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/11.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/bin/ld: ~/dev_tools/arm-gnu-toolchain-11.3.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/11.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/lib/thumb/v7e-m+fp/hard/libc.a(libc_a-fstatr.o): in function `_fstat_r':
/data/jenkins/workspace/GNU-toolchain/arm-11/src/newlib-cygwin/newlib/libc/reent/fstatr.c:55: warning: _fstat is not implemented and will always fail
~/dev_tools/arm-gnu-toolchain-11.3.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/11.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/bin/ld: ~/dev_tools/arm-gnu-toolchain-11.3.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/11.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/lib/thumb/v7e-m+fp/hard/libc.a(libc_a-signalr.o): in function `_getpid_r':
/data/jenkins/workspace/GNU-toolchain/arm-11/src/newlib-cygwin/newlib/libc/reent/signalr.c:83: warning: _getpid is not implemented and will always fail
~/dev_tools/arm-gnu-toolchain-11.3.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/11.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/bin/ld: ~/dev_tools/arm-gnu-toolchain-11.3.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/11.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/lib/thumb/v7e-m+fp/hard/libc.a(libc_a-isattyr.o): in function `_isatty_r':
/data/jenkins/workspace/GNU-toolchain/arm-11/src/newlib-cygwin/newlib/libc/reent/isattyr.c:52: warning: _isatty is not implemented and will always fail
~/dev_tools/arm-gnu-toolchain-11.3.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/11.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/bin/ld: ~/dev_tools/arm-gnu-toolchain-11.3.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/11.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/lib/thumb/v7e-m+fp/hard/libc.a(libc_a-signalr.o): in function `_kill_r':
/data/jenkins/workspace/GNU-toolchain/arm-11/src/newlib-cygwin/newlib/libc/reent/signalr.c:53: warning: _kill is not implemented and will always fail
~/dev_tools/arm-gnu-toolchain-11.3.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/11.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/bin/ld: ~/dev_tools/arm-gnu-toolchain-11.3.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/11.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/lib/thumb/v7e-m+fp/hard/libg.a(libc_a-lseekr.o): in function `_lseek_r':
/data/jenkins/workspace/GNU-toolchain/arm-11/src/newlib-cygwin/newlib/libc/reent/lseekr.c:49: warning: _lseek is not implemented and will always fail
~/dev_tools/arm-gnu-toolchain-11.3.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/11.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/bin/ld: ~/dev_tools/arm-gnu-toolchain-11.3.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/11.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/lib/thumb/v7e-m+fp/hard/libc.a(libc_a-openr.o): in function `_open_r':
/data/jenkins/workspace/GNU-toolchain/arm-11/src/newlib-cygwin/newlib/libc/reent/openr.c:50: warning: _open is not implemented and will always fail
~/dev_tools/arm-gnu-toolchain-11.3.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/11.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/bin/ld: ~/dev_tools/arm-gnu-toolchain-11.3.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/11.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/lib/thumb/v7e-m+fp/hard/libg.a(libc_a-readr.o): in function `_read_r':
/data/jenkins/workspace/GNU-toolchain/arm-11/src/newlib-cygwin/newlib/libc/reent/readr.c:49: warning: _read is not implemented and will always fail
~/dev_tools/arm-gnu-toolchain-11.3.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/11.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/bin/ld: ~/dev_tools/arm-gnu-toolchain-11.3.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/11.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/lib/thumb/v7e-m+fp/hard/libg.a(libc_a-writer.o): in function `_write_r':
/data/jenkins/workspace/GNU-toolchain/arm-11/src/newlib-cygwin/newlib/libc/reent/writer.c:49: warning: _write is not implemented and will always fail
Other than that, the project seems to compile fine. Reading the release note (available here), I can't see what could cause this.
The warnings you encountered were placed in syscalls implementation of libnosys (e.g. see close.c, and relevant warning.h. At some point, you link against libnosys - either by
The developers used a neat trick to embed warning messages into object files, using .gnu.warning.SYMBOL_NAME - Unfortunately I couldn't find official documentation, but you can read more about it here, and here.
The reason you see these warnings is that those syscalls are referenced "somewhere"... It might be a stray printf/putchar in your code, exit(), rand(), or some usage in libc itself.
In freestanding, bare metal environments it is absolutely normal to use dummy syscalls, as we don't expect to interact with the operating system. If you use an RTOS on your platform, there is probably a dedicated syscalls implementation waiting for you. So there is probably nothing to worry about this warning. I think that the warning message itself is a little bit misleading - by "fail" it means "do nothing and return error status", which is well-defined behavior that should not lead to abnormal program execution.
Side note: I checked libnosys.a from 10-2020-q4-major release of arm-none-eabi with objdump, and it didn't have those warning symbols.
As others mentioned, in freestanding environment, you can provide your own dummy syscalls, and don't link against libnosys. I searched through ld documentation and source code, and didn't find a linker option to suppress this warning.
Note that if you rely on dynamic memory allocation using malloc in C, or new in C++, your implementation of _sbrk must actually work (more info here), otherwise you may enter "debugging so funny that it lasts for weeks" zone.
Funnily enough, libnosys's implementation of _sbrk works AND doesn't have embedded warning symbol. I strongly recommend using it, unless you need to allocate heap on external RAM, etc.
The added benefit of using libnosys is the fact that you don't need to write your custom syscalls in every project you make, which could be tiresome and error-prone.
Having said that, there is actually a method to get rid of the warnings from libnosys permanently: Look for libnosys.a in your toolchain directory (in arm-none-abi case there will one for each architecture and float ABI), and delete .gnu.warning symbols from archives using:
arm-none-eabi-objcopy -w -R .gnu.warning.* libnosys.a
Note that this will irreversibly modify your toolchain files. Most likely in intended, and non-harmful way, but still. Use with caution.
If you use CMake to build your project I would consider creating PRE_LINK command that copies relevant libnosys, strips it of warnings, and link with it instead.