SYMS(4)								       SYMS(4)

NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     syms - MIPS symbol	table

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     #include <sym.h>
     #include <symconst.h>

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     The following information applies to the IRIX 4 COFF symbol table and,
     for now, the .mdebug section found	in 32-bit objects on IRIX 6.  In a
     future IRIX release, the .mdebug section will be replaced.

     The MIPS symbol table departs from	the standard COFF symbol table.	The
     symbol table consists of many tables unbundling information usually found
     in	the one	COFF symbol table.  The	symbol table should be viewed as a
     hand-crafted, network-style database designed for space and access
     efficiency.

     The following structures or tables	appear in the MIPS symbol table:

     TABLE		    CONTENTS
     symbolic header	    sizes and locations	of all other tables.
     file descriptors	    per	file locations for other tables.
     procedure descriptors  frame info and location of procedure info.
     local symbols	    local type,	local variable,	and scoping info.
     local strings	    string space for local symbols.
     line numbers	    compacted by encoding, contains a line per instruction.
     relative file desc.    indirection	for inter-file symbol access.
     optimization symbols   to be defined.
     auxiliary symbols	    variable data type info for	each local symbol.
     external symbols	    loader symbols (global text	and data).
     external strings	    string space for external symbols.
     dense numbers	    (file, symbol) index pairs for compiler use.

     External and local	symbols	contain	the standard concept of	 a  ``symbol''
     as	follows:

	struct
	{
	  long	   iss;	      /* index into string space */
	  long	   value;     /* addr, size, etc., depends on sc & st */
	  unsigned st: 6;     /* symbol	type (e.g. local, param, etc.) */
	  unsigned sc: 5;     /* storage class (e.g. text, bss,	etc.) */
	  unsigned reserved: 1;
	  unsigned index: 20; /* index into symbol or auxiliary	table */
	};


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