D096 - The stated symbol count is not inferred

Status: decided Date: 2026-09-26

Info::symbol_count returns symtabsz / syment, and None when the module does not state both. dynamic::symbols reads to the end of the segment when symtabsz is absent. Both behaviours stay, and each says so in its documentation.

Why: symbol_count is a claim about what the module states, and a module that states nothing has no count. symbols is a reader, and stopping at a missing size field would read nothing where it could read almost everything.

Rejected:

• Inferring the count in symbol_count: a count that changes when something else moves.
• Refusing in symbols: a reader that fails where it could succeed.