GELF_GETSYM(3)

📦
version 0.197 · 2 versions
, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling, centos-stream 10, centos-stream 9, fedora 43, fedora 44, nixpkgs unstable, ubuntu stonking

💖 GELF_GETSYM — bestie, it's literally the symbol table translator ✨

okay so this is gelf_getsym from the Libelf Programmer's Manual (that's the GELF_GETSYM(3) bit, if you were wondering 🎀) and honestly? she's an icon. she takes a symbol table entry and gives it back to you in a form that doesn't care what class your ELF is. no cap.

✨ NAME ✨

gelf_getsym — grab class-independent symbol info from the symbol table at the index you ask for 🦋

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <gelf.h>

GElf_Sym *gelf_getsym (Elf_Data *data, int ndx, GElf_Sym *dst);

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so the vibe is: you've got a symbol table entry at index ndx sitting inside data, and this function translates it into a class-independent representation and drops it into *dst. iconic behaviour. 💖

data must be the Elf_Data of a section whose type is SHT_SYMTAB or SHT_DYNSYM. that's the rule, periodt.

want to know how many symbols are in the symbol table? math time bestie 🧮 — divide the size of the corresponding section (sh_size or d_size) by the size of one symbol table entry. and where does that size come from? sh_entsize or gelf_fsize(3). you're welcome. ✨

🚨 heads up: if the corresponding elf has more than 64K sections, you should be using gelf_getsymshndx to get a symbol's section index instead. go check gelf_getsymshndx(3) for the details, fr fr.

🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

  • data — pointer to an Elf_Data of a SHT_SYMTAB or SHT_DYNSYM section. 💫
  • ndx — the zero-based index of the symbol table entry inside data. (zero-based, bestie, not one-based, we don't do that here 🙈)
  • dst — pointer to a structure you provide, where the symbol table entry gets stored. and listen — dst must not be NULL. like, at all. 🫶

⭐ RETURN VALUE ⭐

slay on success → returns dst. 💖

flop on failure → returns NULL and sets elf_errno. 😭

BUT. tiny plot twist: if data is NULL, then NULL is returned without setting elf_errno. so don't go blaming the errno for that one, it's innocent. 👑

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

🌈 ATTRIBUTES 🌈

(sorry bestie, no tables allowed in this format, so here's the tea in list form 🍓)

  • Interface: gelf_getsym()
  • Attribute: Thread safety
  • Value: MT-Safe 🔥

💀 REPORTING BUGS 💀

found a bug? spill it, don't sit on it:

Libelf · 2025-12-29 · GELF_GETSYM(3) — that's the whole page babes, go translate some symbols, you ate 💅✨🫶

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