Where do number suffixes in symbol names come from?

[Goswin von Brederlow]

On Thu, Jun 30, 2016 at 11:55:27AM +0200, john smith wrote:
> All static symbol have a short number attached to its name, for example:
> 
> static const int def[9999999] = {1};
> 
> shows up as:
> 
> 0000000000400920 r def.2802
> 
> What does this number represent? I know I can change it using
> __asm__("def").
> 
> I read this https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=40831 and
> this https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/patch/118607/ but I couldn't find a
> definitive explanations of what these numbers mean.

I'm guessing that is just a unique number generated to avoid name
colisions in the binary. Think about this:

Say you have two compilation units (files) and both have:

    static const int def[9999999] = {1};

Since the variable is static you actually do have 2 separate variables
called "def" and that is perfectly alright. But you can not have two
symbols called "def" in the binary. The extra ".xxxx" keeps them
distinct.

MfG
	Goswin