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2.7.1 Reading symbols

There are two stages to reading a symbol table from a BFD: allocating storage, and the actual reading process. This is an excerpt from an application which reads the symbol table: 

         long storage_needed;
         asymbol **symbol_table;
         long number_of_symbols;
         long i;

         storage_needed = bfd_get_symtab_upper_bound (abfd);

         if (storage_needed < 0)
           FAIL

         if (storage_needed == 0)
           return;

         symbol_table = xmalloc (storage_needed);
           ...
         number_of_symbols =
            bfd_canonicalize_symtab (abfd, symbol_table);

         if (number_of_symbols < 0)
           FAIL

         for (i = 0; i < number_of_symbols; i++)
           process_symbol (symbol_table[i]);

All storage for the symbols themselves is in an objalloc connected to the BFD; it is freed when the BFD is closed.