Linker warnings: “changing start of section .stack_dummy / .heap by 4 bytes” with GCC 5.2.1 on Windows 11 (arduino-nRF5)

[timor2542]

Summary

When compiling any sketch for nRF5 boards with the sandeepmistry/arduino-nRF5 core on Windows, the linker prints repeated warnings:

.../arm-none-eabi/bin/ld.exe: warning: changing start of section .stack_dummy by 4 bytes
.../arm-none-eabi/bin/ld.exe: warning: changing start of section .heap by 4 bytes

(repeats 2–3 times)

The sketch runs fine, but the warnings are noisy. I’d like to confirm whether this is expected (alignment) behavior, and whether the core should suppress --warn-section-align or adjust the linker script.

Environment

• OS: Windows 11 x64
• Arduino IDE: 2.3.6
• Core: sandeepmistry/arduino-nRF5 0.8.0
• Board: BBC: microbit (V1)
• Toolchain: GCC ARM Embedded 5.2.1 (from core package)
• Path sample from build logs:
  C:\Users\HimawariSakuraTH\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\sandeepmistry\tools\gcc-arm-none-eabi\5_2-2015q4...

Actual Behavior

Linker warnings:

ld.exe: warning: changing start of section .stack_dummy by 4 bytes
ld.exe: warning: changing start of section .heap by 4 bytes

Questions

1. Are these warnings expected from the current linker script (alignment of .heap / .stack_dummy)?
2. If there’s a recommended way for users to silence the warnings without forking the core, please advise.

Thank you.